Understanding Formula 1

On the surface, Formula 1 (F1) racing is simple in its elegance: a race around a circuit where whoever crosses the finish line first wins. But there is more to it than just a driver and a car. F1 racing has become part science and part hi-tech, yet it still maintains that guts and glory aura of motor racing in the past. The cars have become faster, the drivers more skilled, the tracks more challenging (or less, depending on whom you ask) and the technology simply mind-boggling. Anyone can enjoy watching a F1 race. It is thrilling, exciting and gets your adrenaline pumping. There is nothing comparable to watching a live F1 race with the crowds roaring and car engines piercing your eardrums! However, deeper understanding of F1 racing and its finer details will enable greater enjoyment of the sport.

There are now more than 20 races in the annual F1 Championship season, called the Grand Prix. These take place all over the world at a range of tracks, some specifically designed for F1 races and others just regular streets that are turned into an F1 racing circuit for one weekend a year. The most famous of the street circuits is the Monaco Grand Prix. It is the shortest overall track in the Grand Prix circuit, but considered one of the more technically difficult tracks to race because there are few overtaking opportunities. F1 races normally take place over a weekend, with practice sessions and qualifying races held on Fridays and Saturdays, followed by the actual Grand Prix race held on Sunday afternoons. This makes F1 easy to follow and an ideal excuse for a weekend trip to a racing circuit near you.

One of the reasons why Formula 1 is so appealing to spectators around the world is that it is a truly global race. The sport includes drivers from all over the world, including Britain, Australia, Brazil, Finland, France, Germany, India and Japan just to name a few. Combine this with races that take place on circuits all over the world and you have a sport with truly international appeal. For each race, teams and their entourage have to travel to different circuits in countries as geographically diverse as England, Bahrain, Australia, Canada, India, Malaysia and Monaco. There are also new circuits constantly being added to the Championship race. For the 2012 season it is in the US. Of course, each Grand Prix circuit has its own unique history, challenges and legends that make each race breathtaking. Audiences have been captivated since its inception in 1950.

The F1 championship race is a combination of driver and team, with rankings for both throughout the year. These are called the Drivers' World Championship and Constructors’ World Championship. It is important to understand the points system to be able to follow the F1 team and its driver’s progress throughout the season.

The top ten finishers in each Grand Prix race score points towards both the drivers’ and the constructors’ world championships according to the following scale:

1st place: 25 points
2nd place: 18 points
3rd place: 15 points
4th place: 12 points
5th place: 10 points
6th place: 8 points
7th place: 6 points
8th place: 4 points
9th place: 2 points
10th place: 1 point

This point scale was changed in 2010, prior to which only the top eight drivers won points with a 1st place finish earning 10 points. One of the reasons for the change is that the new 7-point gap between 1st and 2nd place (previously the gap was 2 points) motivates drivers to work harder to win each Grand Prix race. The 25-point scale now means drivers and teams can accumulate more points over the season.

This example can easily illustrate how the points system works. If Sebastian Vettel, who drives for Red Bull, finishes first and his teammate Mark Webber second, then Vettel would get 25 points towards his Drivers World Championship and Webber 18 points. The Red Bull team would get 25+18, or 43 points, towards its Constructor’s World Championship point total. The rest is simple. The driver with the most points at the end of the season is declared the Drivers’ World Champion and the constructor with the most points is declared the Constructors’ World Champion. If, however, two drivers or teams have the same number of points at the end of the season, the driver or team who had the highest number of superior race results will win the championship.

There are currently 12 teams competing in the Grand Prix and these include some well-known car manufacturer names like Ferrari and Mercedes. There are also teams that new F1 fans would probably not know such as Lotus, McLaren and Williams. They are all big names in racing though. To show just how difficult F1 racing really is, consider that Honda and Toyota were two latecomers to the F1 racing circuit. Honda entered in the late 1980s and Toyota in 2002 and neither team ever won a Grand Prix race, eventually exiting F1. But new teams such as Force India and Red Bull have recently entered the F1 racing circuit injecting new blood into the sport.

In terms of the teams, each team or constructor runs two cars in each race with basically the same colour scheme or race livery throughout the season. There are many regulations defining the liveries of cars in F1 races. For example, every car must carry its driver’s race number clearly visible from the front of the car, and the driver’s name must appear either on his helmet or the side of the cockpit. The team’s name or emblem must appear on the nose of the car.

Talking about drivers, the history of F1 is filled with larger than life legends of racing. Probably most famous is the Brazilian Ayrton Senna, who died in the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994. Other F1 greats include Austria’s Nikki Lauda, England’s Nigel Mansel and France’s Alain Prost. Most people will have at least heard of those names in the past. Perhaps the biggest legend of them all is Juan Manuel Fangio, who collected a record five championships in the 1950s, and of course Michael Schumacher, a living legend. Today, the drivers are even better known thanks to the penetration of media throughout the world. Many casual observers will have heard of Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton or Fernando Alonso. There is also family history in Formula one. Champions Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve are both sons of former racing champions, and Bruno Senna is the nephew of the legendary Ayrton Senna. F1 is dominated by some charismatic and talented drivers, making it fun for the spectator to follow their annual progress in the F1 Championships.

Much of F1 racing has become a science, but it still has enough of a luck factor built in to make it fascinating year in and year out. The recent use of softer compound Pirelli tyres has increased the number of pit-stops for each driver. Each team has their own strategy, and before every race discussions centre around the condition of the circuit, the weather, set-up of cars, suitability of drivers, past winners and last but not least, the tyres. For example, pit stops are an important part of a team’s strategy. In recent years it has been the ability to perform fast pit stops that has changed the story of an F1 race. It used to take minutes for mechanics to perform pit stops. But now most teams can refuel, change tyres and even make minor mechanical adjustments in under 11 seconds. That makes a huge amount of difference in an F1 race, where every millisecond counts. Simply watching this teamwork in action in the pit stop is almost as fascinating as the race itself. A chance to spend some time in the pit stop is a must for any F1 enthusiast. Some circuits allows three-day F1 race pass holders to visit the pits or even experience a pit change, so don’t miss out on that if you get the chance.

Today’s teams have an abundance of data, and cars are equipped with the latest hi-tech devices monitoring almost everything in the car. Teams can place emphasis on choosing the right tyre and the right strategy, but there are still elements that cannot be controlled like weather, accidents, misjudgements and best of all luck. For example, a poorly timed pit stop can place the driver behind a slow runner, enabling a rival to gain a significant time lead, or team tactics can result in collusion to ‘shut out’ another driver. For the spectator, technology has been a boon because there are now large screens around the race track allowing fans follow the entire race from anywhere on the track. For TV viewers, there is live and instant playback with a whole host of statistics and commentary. Race results and standings can now be accessed pretty much anywhere from the internet or major newspapers, making this sport even more accessible to newcomers. F1 is no longer the sport of the rich and affluent, but can be enjoyed by anyone around the globe!

Each year, some of the F1 regulations are changed or tweaked and are discussed to no end by F1 enthusiasts. The following are some of the major changes for the 2012 F1 season:

Race weekend layout: teams must pass safety tests prior to each race weekend, instead of once a season. This means the safety of the vehicles will be more rigorously checked. The 107 per cent qualifying regulation from last year stands, which means drivers must qualify within 107 per cent of the fastest qualifying driver.

Pit lane regulations: pit teams will no longer be allowed to use helium in their wheel guns, which may increase pit-stop times. Drivers can also use all of the tyres that are allocated to them on a Grand Prix weekend. Previously, drivers had been limited to three sets for the whole weekend.

Ban of exhaust-blow diffusers: these diffusers were extremely controversial in 2011, with some teams using them successfully, such as Red Bull. However, teams will be able to continue to use Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) and Drag Reduction System (DRS).