A Beginners Guide to Formula 1

If you’re thinking about getting into Formula 1 or considering binging Drive to Survive on Netflix… Do it!!  Becoming an F1 fan has made 23 weekends of my year 10 times more interesting and given me a whole list of places to travel to for a Grand Prix weekend.  This post will breakdown the 2023 season of Formula 1 so you can become a fan at any point and know it all!

First things first, the teams.  There are 10 Formula1 racing teams, each with their strengths and weaknesses which all can depend on the money they win from the previous season.  In each team there are 2 drivers and often a reserve, below are the team names and their two 2023 drivers.

Red Bull Racing – Max Verstappen & Sergio Perez

Ferrari – Charles Leclerc & Carlos Sainz

Mercedes AMG – Lewis Hamilton & George Russell

Mclaran Racing – Lando Norris & Oscar Piastri

Aston Martin Racing – Fernando Alonso & Lance Stroll

Alpine Racing – Pierre Gasly & Estaban Ocon

Alfa Romeo – Valterri Botas & Zhou Guanyu

Alpha Tauri – Daniel Riccardo (As of very recently!) & Yuki Tsunoda

Williams Racing – Alex Albon & Logan Sargeant

Haas – Nico Hulkenburg & Kevin Magnussen

The drivers are mixed around most seasons but some can have a contract for as long as 10 years if they’re delivering that well for the team.  The top teams for 2023 are Red Bull and Ferrari with Mercedes shockingly trailing behind since the new design rules for the cars were put in place at the beginning of the 2022 season, which has had a massive effect on the Drivers and constructors championship overall.

The Drivers and Constructors championship is based on scores received through the race, which are given to the top 10 placers from the race.  The race winner will receive 25, P2 gets 18, and then 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1 point for the following 8 positions.

An F1 weekend starts on Thursday and Finishes on Sunday.  Thursday’s are for pitlane and track walks for both the drivers and public, who are lucky enough to get a ticket, then the driving starts on Friday.  Friday is when the cars get out onto the track for 2 Practice sessions, FP1 and FP2.  FP3 will then take place on Saturday before the Qualifying session.  Qualifying is not a race instead a timed lap which will then decide the order in which the drivers will start for the race on Sunday.  Qualifying is split into Q1, Q2 and Q3 and in each of these rounds the amount of drivers lessens.  If you are in the bottom 5 for Q1 or Q2, you are out of qualifying and will not be able to improve the time or position you achieved. 

Race day is of course where the excitement is!  You can feel it through a TV screen, let alone when you’re at the race in person.  The race will be full of various factors that can alter the race, including tyre choices, strategies, tyre changes, crashes, weather and safety cars.

A big factor this year has definitely been strategies, especially for Ferrari.  A team strategist has to determine, before the race even starts, how they think the race is going to go and create Plan’s A, B, C etc for different scenarios that may happen.  In these plans they have to decide how many tyre changes the driver should have, which differs per race depending on the Pirelli tyres they’re using and also the track they’re racing on.  For example, in Monaco the teams rarely pit more than once since overtaking on that street track is so difficult and a tyre change (from entering to leaving the pit lane) can lose the driver up to 20 seconds in their position. 

Speaking of tyre changes, a tyre change is between 1 and 3 seconds long!  That’s to change 4 tyres!  It doesn’t even seem believable until you see it but the faster they can change the tyres, the less time the driver is off the track, so the teams work tirelessly to perfect tyre and any body work changes that may be needed during the race.

Finally, the last factor that can massively affect the race positions and strategies is a red flag or safety car.  If there is a small crash and parts of debris are on the track, a yellow flag will be flown which means the drivers have to reduce their speed and cannot overtake, sometimes this is for the whole circuit and other times it’s just in a certain sector.  But if there is a larger crash, severe debris or a broken down car on the track which needs to be moved, a red flag will be flown.  This means all drivers have to reduce their speed and slowly make their way back to the pits until the track is clear.  Finally, if there is hazard on the track but not one that requires them to stop the race, a safety car will be deployed which the cars have to follow around the track at a reduced speed until the hazard has been removed and all marshals are clear off the track.

I hope this gave you a little more of an insight to the world of Formula 1 and that you start enjoying the sport even more!  Keep an eye out for another F1 post coming soon with all the key words and phrases you may hear from the commentators that you need to know…