Welcome to the pinnacle of motorsport

Single seater racing started taking place all throughout the 1900s. One of the original elite racing series was called the European Drivers Championship, with it’s very first season in 1931. Due to World War Two, racing had to take a break so Formula 1 regulations were not set in until 1946, however, the first race was not until May 13, 1950. Formula 1’s governing body is the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, or better known as the FiA.

When Formula 1 was in its first years, there was only a Driver’s Championship, the Constructor’s Championship was not added until 1958. This allowed teams to have more than one driver in the field. The first person to be proclaimed World Champion was Dr. Giuseppe ‘Nino’ Farina, and the first Constructors Champion was presented to Vanwall, who no longer competes in the sport. Thousands of people have competed in this sport, with only 39 claiming the title so far. The record for the most amount of championships so far belongs to Michael Schumacher, who has 7 titles.

Today’s Grid

Currently there are 20 drivers, ranging 13 different nationalities, and 10 constructors. In order to be considered as a constructor a team must produce their own chassis. They are however allowed to purchase an engine from somebody else. There are currently 4 engine manufacturers in Formula 1: Renault, Mercedes, Ferrari and Honda.

In a typical year, there are 21 Races across 5 different continents running from March-November. This year due to COVID-19 there will only be 18 races on 2 continents running from July-December. Since 1996, the season has started at Albert Park in Melbourne Australia with the exception of 2006 and 2010.

The Grand Prix Weekend

A Grand Prix takes place over one weekend, typically running Friday through to Sunday. There is on exception which is the Monaco Grand Prix which runs the Thursday, and then Saturday and Sunday. There are three free practice sessions, a qualifying session and then the race itself.

The first two practice sessions typically take place on Friday, with them each being 90 minutes. The last practice is held on the Saturday, usually a few hours before qualifying, and it lasts 60 minutes. These practice sessions, don’t count towards anything, it is really just for drivers to get acclimated to the track, and for the teams to try and see what does and doesn’t work at that particular circuit.

Qualifying is held on the Saturday afternoon. It is meant to determine the order the cars will start in for Sunday’s race. It is broken down into three separate sessions, often referred to as Q1, Q2, and Q3. Q1 is 18 minutes in length, and it is the only session that all 20 drivers get to participate in. After the time is up, the five slowest drivers are eliminated, and they will start the race in spots 16-20. Q2 is 15 minutes, and once again when the time runs out the slowest five are eliminated, making up spots 11-15. Q3 is meant to determine the top ten drivers and who will start on pole position for Sunday’s race. It is the shortest session lasting only 12 minutes. However, there is one thing to note. If you make it into Q3, you must start the race on whatever tyre compound you set your fastest lap with in Q2. Everyone else in the field, positions 11-20, can start the race on whatever tyre compound they choose.

The race takes place on the Sunday afternoon, with the exception of a few races that are done at night, such as Singapore and Abu Dhabi. The number of laps changes at every race, but the common rule is that a race must be longer than 305km. The race also cannot go beyond two hours, which does not include any red flags that may postpone the session.

Those who finish in the top ten score points, with anyone finishing P11 or lower scoring nothing. The person who finishes first gets awarded 25 points, and it rapidly decreases with the person finishing in P10 only get one point.

 

For more information, check out these two videos on the basics of F1: