Continuing from the previous chapter, presenting you the Part 2 of Beginner's guide for Formula 1 as we cover the basics of sports with questions to make it shorter instead of long separate topics while also stating some important facts. If you got any questions, you can comment!
Who manages and runs the sport?
FIA (Federation Internationale de l'Automobile) is the managing authority of sport, managing all the technical and sporting regulations as well as Concorde Agreement (an 8 year agreement signed that includes distribution of prize money, TV rights and many other classified things). While FOM/Liberty Media manage the commercial rights to the sport, all the marketing and Television rights.
How many drivers per team?
There are 2 main drivers for team with one or two reserve (to replace a driver who misses the race) and test drivers (to test the cars in free practice) as well as few development drivers to build the car from time to time and test it.
What about safety features?
Formula 1 was known for being too dangerous in early stages. The drivers would die at least once per season. The car got safer with time as well as driver's safety was increased with HANS device, five point seatbelt, fireproof overalls, fireproof balaclava and a full face crash helmet. The safety was improved after the horrible death of Ayrton Senna and the last driver to die during a race was Jules Bianchi in 2018. Meanwhile, the car has many safety features too. 2018 cars are made really light with carbon fiber and hundreds of hours of crash tests to make the cockpit as safe as possible during a crash. A new addition to safety in 2018 is also the AFP (in technical language, Additional Frontal Protection) or Halo device.
Why do lower teams compete when they know they won't win?
There's a great level of competitive field in Formula 1. Every year teams try to get everything out of their cars and drivers and get better over their rivals. There's fights and battles going on in mid-fields. Cars develop every year and that gives them huge money. Take an example of Williams, they are not competitive but get as much money as Mercedes. Reason? They have history. Older teams get advantage from making their image.
How many horses does that engine have?
As of current Formula 1 regulations, every car uses a 1600 CC (or 1.6L in America) Turbocharged V6 engine producing about 1000 horsepower at 15000 rpm. The power differs from teams to teams.
Why they look so ugly compared to 90s cars?
Change in aero. The 90s cars were not so good on aerodynamics compared to today. And they don't look ugly today either! Brawn BGP 001 and Red Bull RB6 looked really good.
A week in life of Formula driver?
Monday. Returning to hotel and packing everything up for travelling. Attending some meetings with sponsors and attending PR meetings before getting ready to fly off to the venue.
Tuesday. Up for healthy breakfast, getting into personal airplane and flying to the venue.
Wednesday. Arriving at the place, meeting sponsors and team, analysing the track and knowing the changes in team.
Thursday. Press Conference, more conferences for print media, interviews and sponsor meets.
Friday. Getting more familiar with the track with Free Practice sessions.
Saturday. Qualifying, Post Qualifying interviews and press conferences, more meetings with sponsors and interacting with fans.
Sunday. Race. Getting to pitlane, going to grid, national anthems, grid interviews and race. Podium ceremony after that and press conferences before drivers get to their hotel to get some rest for tougher battles ahead.
How are points given?
25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 for Top 10 respectively. Anyone below Top 10 will be given no points.
Someone deliberately crashed into other driver. What now?
Deliberately crashing into others is breach of the rules and regulations made by FIA. Anyone breaching the rules may get punishments depending on severity. Lowest being a reprimand, three reprimands give you a warning, five warnings give you a buck, 9 bucks give you a penalty point and 12 points give you a race ban. Penalties are also mentioned in FIA rule book. There are stop-go penalties (pitting for a certain time and then releasing the car), drive through penalty (driving through the pitlane at 80 kmh) and time penalty (certain time added to final classification of race results). The penalty depends on all Stewards' decision and then passed on by the Race Director Charlie Whiting.
How to become a Formula 1 driver myself?
You need loads of money and talent. In easy words, start karting as soon as possible and attracting sponsors. Next stop after success in Karting is regional Formula 4 up to F3 and F2, getting required number of points in F1 super license and completing the requirements. Once you reach there and have money and talent, you can start your F1 career but that doesn't come easy.
Some stats and facts:
Lewis Hamilton has the highest number of poles in Formula 1 history (83 at the time of writing), more than Michael any other driver.
Michael Schumacher is most successful Formula 1 driver, winning 91 races and 7 World Championships over the years. Lewis Hamilton and Juan Manuel Fangio are 2nd to him, getting 5 World Championships.
F1 was formed in 1950. The first World Champion was Giuseppe Farina driving an Alfa Romeo.
Graham Hill is only driver to history to get the triple crown of Motorsports, winning Le Mans, Indy 500 and Monaco Grand Prix as well as 2 World Championships.
Graham Hill - Damon Hill and Keke Rosberg - Nico Rosberg are only two father-son pairs in Formula 1 to win World Championships.
Ferrari is most successful constructor in Formula 1 with 16 World Championships. But the team had a win drought of 21 years after Jody Scheckter won a championship with Ferrari to Michael Schumacher.
Ayrton Senna is known as the best driver of all time disregarding statistics. He is an inspiration for all the young drivers including [statistically] the greatest of all time Michael Schumacher.
Are there any other questions needed to be answered? Write in the comments or mail me!
Shahmir Khan
Editor-in-Chief WEC & WRC, Member news desk.
In his own words, “17-year-old guy who is avid motorsports gamer. Petrolhead, die-hard F1 and motorsports fan and loves to write about cars and motorsports.” Shahmir can be easily reached by the following address:
Gmail: shahmirkhan9181@gmail.com
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