Your Beginners Guide to Formula 1
Being a newbie to the F1 world can be quite daunting with all the technical language that you have to come to terms with. So, to help you guys that may be new to F1 or just want to know more, we have created the ultimate beginners guide to help you enjoy your first few Grand Prix weekends! From constructors to pitstops we’ve got you covered.
The Drivers Championship
We will start off with the most basic and vital part of F1; the driver’s championship. In 2020, there are 20 drivers who make up the grid and they are all racing towards one goal; becoming World Champion. The position a driver obtains in a Grand Prix determines how many championship points they receive and these are added up throughout the year. The point system works in this way:
1st- 25pts
2nd- 18pts
3rd- 15pts
4th- 12pts
5th- 10pts
6th- 8pts
7th- 6pts
8th- 4pts
9th- 2pts
10th- 1pts
Drivers who finish in the top 10 rack up the points and then the driver with the highest amount of points by the end of the season or the driver that reaches a scale of points where no other driver could beat them, will win the championship and be crowned World Champion.
The FIA World Champion Trophy. Pic: Getty Images.
The Constructors Championship
There are 10 teams on the Formula One grid, each team has 2 cars and therefore, 2 drivers. In the constructor’s championship the drivers of each team combine their points to create the constructors total. The constructors have the job of providing 2 chassis (AKA building their own cars for the championship). The constructor that produces the car that earns the most points in the season is named the “Formula One World Champion Constructor”. While constructors must produce their own chassis, they do not have to create their own engine. This leads to teams buying engines from other constructors who produce their own engines or from companies who make engines but are not a constructor in F1 e.g. Red Bull and Alpha Tauri, both use Honda engines. Those constructors who do buy engines are known as “customer” teams and the cars must be recognised with both names in the championship, for example McLaren Renault as they use Renault engines (although they are changing to Mercedes in 2021).
2019 Constructor Championship standings.
Team Tiers
It may be heard a lot during commentary of races the different names of “team tiers”. There are 3 tiers of the teams on the grid in F1; we have the “top teams”/ “top three” or the “front runners” who have dominated the championship in recent years. These teams are Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull. We then have the “Midfield” or “F1.5” and the teams in this category are battling to be “the best of the rest” or better known as fourth place. The teams in this battle are McLaren, Renault, Alpha Tauri, Racing Point and Alfa Romeo. Lastly, we have the “backmarkers” who are teams that frequently are near the back of the grid, they are Williams and occasionally Haas who do sometimes have brilliant races but with a lack of a consistency in the performance of their car to show the talents of their drivers they are often seen at the back.
Pic: Getty Images
Race Weekends
As an F1 fan you live for the F1 weekends. 4 days of excitement which builds as the weekend progresses to the ultimate showdown on a Sunday Race Day!
Thursday
This is when the race weekend begins to take shape. The paddock begins to get busy and TV coverage starts with some driver interviews and press conferences.
Friday
Next we have 2 practice sessions on the Fridays. This is where the teams and their drivers send out their cars to learn the track and test new parts on the car heading into the weekend. They can pick up on areas that need improvement, if the car feels good or if they need to make any alterations to get the best set up so they can get the most out of their cars on race day.
Saturday
Early on Saturdays there is a final practice for the teams where they can fine tune the cars for qualifying. Qualifying determines the starting grid for the Grand Prix on Sunday. Qualifying is about putting in the fastest lap you can in order to gain pole position (first place on the grid) for Sunday. In Qualifying there are 3 timed sessions; Q1, Q2 and Q3.
In Q1, all the cars get the chance to set the fastest time they can around the track over a 20-minute period. The drivers with slowest 5 lap times take the positions of 16- 20 on the grid.
In Q2, the 15 remaining cars do another round of trying to set the fastest lap. The slowest 5 cars in Q2 are given the positions of 11- 15.
Finally, in Q3 the fastest 10 cars from Q2 battle it out to get the fastest lap time to be on Pole position for Sundays race.
Qualifying can be a massive part in helping drivers win races. For example, if you get pole position in Monaco, you are more often than not set to win the race due to there being barely any room for overtakes on that particular circuit. The cars are set to their optimum limits with low fuel reserves to allow drivers to go as fast as possible. Quali is often the fastest you will see the cars around the track!
Sunday
On the Sunday of race weekends the cars and teams come out of the pits 30 minutes before the race starts and take the positions on the grid determined by Qualifying from Saturday. There is often a sea of mechanics, performance coaches, analysts etc. surrounding the car and getting it set up. Once the cars are set up, they do a ‘formation lap’ which is used to warm-up the car and its tyres ready for the race, on this lap the cars must stay in order of the grid and cannot overtake. Once the formation lap is over drivers take their places back to their grid positions ready to start the race. To start the race 5 red lights, appear on the start board in one second intervals, once all lights appear there is a pause and ones the lights turn out the race has begun! (lights out and away we go!!)
Flags
When watching a race, you may notice certain flags being used throughout. These flags all have specific meanings and instruct a driver to do a set task that comes with waving that flag. Here is a guide to what all the flags mean so you can really impress those around you when watching your next race:
Yellow- signals there is a risk of danger on the track, this can range from an accident on track or inclement weather. A safety car is deployed which drives in front of the drivers to prevent normal racing continuing. It is mandatory under this flag for the drivers to decrease their speed by 40% and over-taking is prohibited – if this is not followed drivers will obtain time penalties (covered later).
Green- indicates that the track is safe enough to race again and implies to the driver that they have passed the potential danger point and their normal race conditions are resumed.
Red- this means the session/ race has been stopped due to poor track conditions or a severe accident.
Blue- this warns a driver that they are about to get lapped and they must let the faster car overtake them.
Black Flag- Is one of the toughest penalties, this can be given for ignoring previous penalties given or for technical irregularities of some sort. The driver is disqualified from the race and their result will not count towards the championship.
If the black flag is not adequate for the offence the driver had committed, the driver may be banned from several races after the event.
Here is an iconic song that everyone relates with Blue Flags:
Penalties
Throughout races you may here that a driver has a time penalty after causing a clash with another driver, for forcing them off the track, etc. There are different types of penalties and choice of which one is given to a driver is based on the severity of the incident that took place. These are the different penalties and what happens if a driver is handed one:
5 second time penalty- this penalty is flexible; a driver can serve the penalty the next time they pit and the car has to sit in the pitlane for 5 seconds without any alterations taking place before they can do anything to the car. If they do not need to pit, then 5 seconds will be added to their time at the end of the race.
10 second time penalty- this penalty is also known as “stop and go” and requires the driver to enter the pitlane, stop at their pit for 10 seconds and exit again. When this penalty is being served the mechanics cannot work on the offending car.
More Extreme
10 place grid penalty- this is imposed for more severe violations of the rules, the penalty adds 10 places to the driver’s grid position at the next Grand Prix. An example of this would be if a driver qualified pole position they would start from 11th on the grid. Sometimes they can get these due to changes in the car such as new engines etc.
The most extreme punishment of all which is given for extremely endangering the life of a driver, is being excluded from the championship and if the offence is so extreme the driver could be taken to judicial court.
DRS
You will hear this a LOT on race weekends. Also know as “Drag Reduction System” is a flap on the car that when opened reduces the drag acting on the cars aerodynamics from dirty air of the car in front, aiding the car to travel faster and assist their ability to overtake. This can only take place in specific DRS zones of the track and can only be used when a car has been detected as being less than a second behind the car in front of them.
Here you can see the DRS ‘flap’ open and closed. Pic: F1fandom.com
Pitstop
In a pitstop 20 mechanics from a team work together to change 4 wheels, make alterations, change parts of the car and even scrub the visors of drivers helmets to make their vision clearer. This is all completed within a matter of seconds and can make or break a driver’s race depending on the time. The fastest pitstop record is currently held by Red Bull Racing at 1.82 seconds, performed at the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix.
You will often hear instructions for the drivers over the radio to “box box” this means the driver needs to pit. This comes from the German word “boxenstopp” meaning pitstop.
Pic: F1.com
Undercut
This strategy is used when a driver is finding it difficult to get past another car. The driver pits early in an attempt to use their fresher tyres to gain a performance advantage enough to put the driver ahead of their opponent once they pit.
Strategy plays a HUGE role in how a race weekend can pan out. If a driver has a poor strategy they may not perform as well as they could’ve done. Tyres, pit-stops, undercut etc. all help in a driver winning a race. Here is a video that shows how important strategy is in the world of F1.
Oversteer & Understeer
You may hear drivers talking about having “oversteer” or “understeer”. We are here to help you understand what this means as much as we can without being in an actual race car. When a car is cornering, oversteer means the rear wheels of the car lose their grip causing the back end of the car to step out. Understeer when cornering causes the front wheels of the car to lose grip because of this the car travels at a shallower angle than the driver has instructed the car to do so with the steering wheel.
So guys!! We hope that this will help you to understand F1 a little better and allow you to impress your pals when you next watch an F1 race. There is SO much more to tell you but we will save that for another post…
As always, let us know what you think and contact us at @fs_formulas.
Enjoy,
Sach and Soph
X
Sources
https://thenewswheel.com/quick-guide-to-formula-one-constructors/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7JfBJzUN0U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-NUz0pQC0I
https://www.f1mix.com/results/