Formula 1: More than just a motor sport

Bit of History

70 years ago, the first Grand Prix was held in England and for this occasion, we are writing this blog about formula 1 and what is this sport and if it is considered as a sport or not.
Formula One also known as Formula 1 or F1, is the highest class of international single-seater auto racing sanctioned by the “Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA)” and owned by the Formula One Group. The word “formula” in the name refers to the set of rules to which all participants’ cars must conform. A Formula One season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix (French for ”grand prizes’ or ‘great prizes”), which take place worldwide on purpose-built circuits and on public roads like Monaco Grand Prix. In these times there are 10 teams and 20 drivers (each team has 2 drivers).

The cars : Speed & High Technology

Formula One cars are the fastest regulated road-course racing cars in the world, owing to very high cornering speeds achieved through the generation of large amounts of aerodynamic down force. The cars underwent major changes in 2017, allowing wider front and rear wings, and wider tires, resulting in peak cornering forces near 6.5 lateral g (approx. 63.7kg) and top speeds of up to approximately 370 km/h (230 mph).

Formula One stands at the technological pinnacle of all Motorsport. It’s also the richest, most intense, most difficult, most political, and most international racing championship in the world. Most of the world’s best drivers are either there or aspire to be there, and the same goes for the best designers, engineers, engine builders, and so on. It’s a sport that takes no prisoners: Under-achievers are spat out with ruthless lack of ceremony. Formula One takes its position at the top of the Motorsport tree very seriously. Formula One traces its lineage directly back to the very beginnings of motor racing itself, at the end of the nineteenth century when public roads were the venues.

Security: Helmets. What are they made of ?

The helmets are made with the same ultra-strong materials that teams build cars with. The material must adhere to tough regulations to ensure it is strong enough to survive an accident. The helmets have to comply with similar kinds of crash tests that the cars go through as well.
If they are at all damaged in a race then they will be replaced for the following event. Drivers usually get through about 15 helmets during a season and discarded ones do become collectors’ items
Formula One drivers could soon be making use of the kind of high-tech Heads Up Display (HUD) technology that is now used every day by fighter pilots. Although the use of pit boards and radio communications now means it is very easy for a driver to keep in touch with his team in the pits, there is still plenty of room for improvement.

Facts

F1 Cars Can Accelerate From 0 To 100 MPH And Hit Back To Zero Within 4 Seconds
Average Basic Cost Of An F1 Car Is $7 Million Without Basic Components
Brake Discs Can Reach 1,000 Degrees Centigrade
The F1 Engine Can’t Work For More Than Five Races
An Average F1 Driver Loses 4 KGS Per Race because of the suit and the heat of the car
Its Helmet Is One Of The Strongest In The World
A Team Is Made Up Of As Many As 600 People
An F1 Steering Wheel Have Up To 20 Buttons

Formula 1 is one of the world’s most-watched annual sports series and its races drive tourism by showcasing the host countries to 471 million TV viewers. It explains why the fees hit an average of $28.7 million per race last year bringing them to a total of $602.1 million.

Teams

What is a typical week of a Formula 1 driver ?

We all like to think that driving a racing car flat-out would be easy, but it isn’t, even if you have heaps of talent. A modern-day Formula One driver has to work very hard if he’s going to win a race. Sometimes drivers work 15 hours a day at the racetrack and then spend their nights thinking about how to do it even better. Formula One racing isn’t a job for clock-watchers. Let’s have a look more in details starting with Thursday.

Thursday

The driver flies into the racetrack and spends some time with the team, checking that his car is OK and working out a strategy for the weekend. He usually attends at least one press conference and signs autographs for the many autograph hunters chasing him around. In the evening, the driver usually takes part in a sponsor function or press dinner, before escaping at about 10 p.m. to go to bed.

Friday

Practice starts very early on Friday morning, especially if the driver’s team has signed up for the extra two-hour test session. The driver usually gets to the track at about 8 a.m. (after having already spent maybe an hour in the hotel gym) and runs through the day’s program with the team. The driver spends most of the rest of the day in practice and technical debriefs when the team evaluates the set-up of the car and its performance. Afterward, he attends even more press conferences. Amid all these other responsibilities, the driver completes the first qualifying round, which decides the running order for Saturday’s main qualifying session. In the evening, he usually attends another sponsor function, which can run on quite late.

Saturday

Saturday is a very important day because what happens today decides the grid for Sunday’s race. The driver attends two practice sessions in the morning and then a warm-up before he actually qualifies his car. He has to make sure that everything is absolutely perfect with his car because he has only one lap to get his time in — if he makes a mistake and spins off the track or suffers a mechanical problem he could find himself starting right at the back of the grid. If qualifying goes well and the driver’s time puts him in one of the top three positions, he attends a special press conference, broadcast all around the world. After this press conference, he must attend more debriefs with the team and then even more press conferences. If an evening function has been planned for Saturday night, he must attend that, as well, although these don’t run too late because the driver must get a good night’s sleep before race day.

Sunday

Race day is by far the most important, and busiest, day of the week. While in the past, drivers could just turn up a few minutes before the race started, jump in their cars, and then head off home as soon as the chequered flag came out, that’s no longer the case. The day often involves everything from warming up and meeting sponsors to race day parades and post-race functions. And if the driver can’t get a helicopter into the circuit he could find himself having to get up even earlier to beat the traffic jams caused by the fans.

Monday

If a driver is lucky he’ll wake up in his own bed on Monday morning — but it’s back to work straight away. Even though he’ll be tired and maybe a bit sore from the race, he has to go to the gym for a few hours to make sure he stays in shape. Monday afternoon, if he hasn’t been called up for a sponsor function, he’ll fly out to one of the European tracks to get ready for that week’s testing schedule.

Tuesday

Less than 48 hours after the Grand Prix, the Formula One driver is back in the cockpit, working hard on developments and improvements for the next race. The teams will be experimenting with new parts or different set-ups to try to make the car even quicker. Testing a Formula One car is a relentless job, and the track usually stays open from 9 a.m. until dark. After that, the driver usually spends a few hours with the team, working through a technical debrief of the test, before dinner, and then maybe an interview with journalists. (Many drivers prefer to do major interviews at tests because there’s a lot less pressure on their time; the only time anyone gets to speak exclusively to Michael Schumacher was at a test.)

Wednesday

Another day of testing, although a driver may be able to fly home this evening to get ready for the following week’s Grand Prix. Big teams usually have one or two test drivers who help ease the workload on their regular drivers, because there’s no point getting their stars completely shattered before the next race.