29th March 2020, 14:29
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| BHPian  Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Trichur
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| Formula 1 – A Beginner's Guide I stumbled upon the series Formula 1 – Drive to Survive on Netflix. Since then I am hooked onto the series. Finished both the seasons pretty quick. Despite being an avid auto enthusiast, Formula 1 never excited me. Never bothered to get into the nitty-gritties of the sport. But, the series right from the first episode injected that magic into my veins. I am kind of now addicted to Formula 1.  Watching a couple of episodes (watch it in order) gave me a fair good idea about this ultra-competitive and ruthless sport. Also, I could understand who is who in the competition. We can get confused with the teams, drivers, sponsors, engine providers, constructors, circuits, trainers, point system and the list goes on. Would have watched (I have never followed one full weekend or sat thru a full race live) a few races in the last 20 years. However, never I understood nor had an urge to decode the full ‘Formula’. I knew some of the top drivers, drivers and some of the circuit names. Didn’t even bothered when a season start or end  .But watching this series changed it all! Mid through the series, I started searching for more information more about F1 and couldn’t find a comprehensive thread anywhere. We will not dwell much into the history of F1 initially, instead, we will straight away jump into the 2020 season after touching some FAQs. Why is it called Formula 1? Formula One racing is governed and sanctioned by a world body called the FIA − Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile or the International Automobile Federation. The name 'Formula' comes from the set of rules that the participating cars and drivers must follow. How are cars positioned in the grid on a race day? Cars are positioned based on the qualifying time in the trials held on Saturday.  The car which completed a lap in the least possible time occupies the pole position (inside of the front row and he is the leader of the starting grid). What does a race weekend look like? Friday: Teams are given two practice sessions on Friday (except in Monaco, where the practice session happens on Thursday). Saturday: One more free practice session and the qualifier (to determine the grid position) happens on Saturday Sunday: The race day. What is a pit-stop? In F1 pit stops refers to the stops made by the car for a tyre change and minor/quick repairs/part replacements. Till 2009 cars used to refuel during a pit stop.  Aston Martin Red Bull Racing currently holds the world record for a pitstop, swapping all four wheels on Verstappen’s RB15 in an incredible 1.82 seconds. With drivers separated by tenths or even hundreths of a second, a quick pitstop can make all the difference to a race. What fuel is used in F1 cars?  High Octane Gasoline (read somewhere it is 102 Octane) What tyres are used in Formula 1? Teams can pick from three different dry tyre compounds during a race weekend, comprising soft, medium or hard, with the softest option offering the most outright grip – and therefore speed – but also wearing out more quickly.  Drivers can also opt for intermediate or wet weather tyres when it’s raining or the track has yet to dry. Each driver has a limited number of tyres for the weekend, at 13 dry sets, four intermediate and three wet. During the race itself, at least two dry compounds must be used if intermediate or wet weather tyres aren’t on the agenda, helping to shake up the racing. All the cars in F1 currently runs on Pirelli tyres. You can read the full details of tyres here : https://www.pirelli.com/tyres/en-gb/motorsport/f1/tyres Who is a Team Principal? Team principal is the person who owns and is in charge of a certain constructor during each race weekend. They are also usually responsible for giving out team orders. Teams and Drivers There are 10 teams in total that compete in an F1 race. Each time has two cars driven by two drivers. Also, teams will have reserve drivers. The BIG THREE: Formula One currently is being dominated by these three teams in the presented order:  1. Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team (Mercedes) 2. Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow (Ferrari) 3. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing (Redbull) The Midfielders: The teams that literally fight for the fourth position.  4. McLaren F1 Team (Mclaren) 5. Renault DP World F1 Team (Renault) 6. Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda (AlphaTauri – originally named Toro Rosso) The Back Benchers  7. BWT Racing Point F1 Team 8. Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN 9. Haas F1 Team 10. ROKiT Williams Racing |
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29th March 2020, 14:59
| #2 |
| BHPian Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Trichur
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| Part 2: Formula One – Beginners Guide Team and Drivers in Detail 1. Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team The King of the hill team in F1. Currently, they are the most successful team in F1 currently. They have glued their name in the constructor standings since 2014! Team Card  Car  2. Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow (Ferrari) F1 for many of us is Ferrari and Schumacher. They are the on F1 team that has not missed a single F1 season since its inception. They are regarded as one of the best performing and dominating team in the history of F1. That red cars were and are our dream machines. Team Card  Car  3. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing (Redbull) One of the most successful non-car brand team in the world of Formula 1 racing! And this “Energy Drink” company always threw tough fights to the Ferraris and the Mercedes. They hit their first podium in 2006 and surprised the world by getting into the second position in the constructor standing in 2009. 2009 to 2013 they were the force to reckon in F1 clinching consecutive title doubles. Team Card  Car  4. McLaren F1 Team (McLaren) Team with rich motoring heritage, founded by New Zealand legendary race-car designer, driver, engineer and inventor. McLaren since its entry into F1 scene in 1966 have achieved countless victories, podiums and pole positions. The reining F1 driver Lewis Hamilton started his career with Team McLaren. Team Card  Car  5. Renault DP World F1 Team (Renault) The French not only is a major engine supplier to some of the F1 teams, also wields there own F1 team. Obviously, their aspiration since their takeover of the erstwhile Lotus F1 team in 2016 was to become one of the top three in the F1 world, they ended up fighting in the mid-field with teams like Haas F1, Torro Rosso and sometime jostling for space even with BWT. Team Card  Car  6. Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda (AlphaTauri) To put it simple AlphTauri is the junior team of RedBull Racing F1 team. Formerly known as Torro Rosso, this team give the opportunity for young drivers from RedBull’s junior driver progam to feel the heat and cut their teeth into the fiercest motorsport in the world. It is worth mentioning that they have matured into an actual constructor rather than remaining a B-team from RedBull. Also, this team has many a times challenged the senior RedBull team and even beat them on many occasions. Team Card  Car  7. BWT Racing Point F1 Team Yes, this was our Force India F1 team. BWT Force India team had a great run at F1 under the ownership of Vijay Mallya till end of 2018 season. Force India debuted in 2008 after Indian beer baron Vijay Mallya bought team Spyker F1. Force India always punched above their weight. And finally, the team was taken over by Canadian billionaire Lawrence in August 2018 after going into administration. Team Card  Car  8. Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN One of the oldest team in the F1 gird. Italian flare + Swiss sensibilities is Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN team. This team was formerly known as Sauber, the very team which gifted the legend Micheal Schumacher to the F1 motorsport. Despite its strong heritage, the present team is a shadow of its erstwhile performance. However, with experienced Kimi Räikkönen and young and talented Antonio Giovinazzi we can always some firework from team Alfa. Team Card  Car  9. Haas F1 Team Youngest kid in the block, debuted in 2016 Haas F1 is the first all-American-led F1 squad in three decades. Within a short time they became a notable constructor in F1. It is commendable that they held a brave fight with the mighty Renaults in the 2018 season. Team Card  Car  10. ROKiT Williams Racing Team Williams is fueled by the sheer passion and brilliance of Sir Frank Williams. In a span of last four decades Team Williams has racked up many F1 championships and was taking the biggies head on. However, recently their performance at the tracks hugely suffered and are currently right at the bottom of the table. But it is truly commendable that they are still running the race, after all you cannot win if you don’t race at all. Team Card  Car  Teams at a Glance  Last edited by Silver Knight : 29th March 2020 at 15:20. |
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29th March 2020, 15:13
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| BHPian Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Trichur
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| Part 3: Formula One – Beginners Guide Formula 1 Point System Objective of an F1 race is fairly simple, drive fast without crashing and reach first 😊 Faster you finish the race, you get more points. As usual, first three can stand upon the podium and spray and drink champagne.  Rest of the 10 drivers will not get any points. So basically, a driver needs to come in top 10 to get himself and his team some points. Exception is when a race is suspended and cannot be restarted. If less than 75 % of the race distance has been completed half points are awarded, and if less than two laps have been completed, no points are awarded. To receive points a driver must finish in the top 10 positions and need not finish the race, but must have covered at least 90 % of the winner's race distance. The drivers and constructors championship titles are awarded to the driver and constructor that have the most points at the end of the season. If two or more drivers or constructors have the same number of points, their positions in the championship are fixed according to the quality of their places. One first place is better than any number of second places, one second place is better than any number of third places, and so on. Pre-season Testing As the name indicates pre-season testing is a testing session before the actual race season begins. It spans over two intense four-days period. For many years, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain has been home to F1's pre-season running, largely owing to its challenging nature, wide range of characteristics and (usually) balmy weather. It's a great place to properly put the new cars prepped for the season through their paces.A team is allowed to put only one car into pre-season testing.  Why teams always go to Barcelona? Mainly for reasons of cost, climate and logistics. Barcelona is usually temperate enough to allow the teams can get some fairly representative running in – although it’s not unheard of for the cooler temperatures at winter testing to throw a car’s development off course by providing the team with unrepresentative data – while its proximity to all the teams’ bases means that getting new parts out to the circuit is feasible both by road and by air. |
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29th March 2020, 16:19
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| BHPian Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Trichur
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| Part 4:Formula One – Beginners Guide Circuits and Races There are 22 races spread across 22 countries for the 2020 season (While writing this article all the races are postponed /cancelled due to Covid 19 outbreak)  1. Albert Park, Australia  Circuit Details  Track Layout  2. Bahrain International Circuit  Circuit Details  Track Layout  3. Hanoi Circuit, Vietnam  Circuit Details  Track Layout  4. Shanghai International Circuit, China  Circuit Details  Track Layout  5. Circuit Zandvoort, Netherlands  Circuit Details  Track Details  6. Circuit De Catalunya, Spain  Circuit Details Attachment 1985501 Track Layout  7. Circuit De Monaco, Monaco  Circuit Details  Track Layout  8. Baku Street Circuit, Azerbaijan  Circuit Details  Track Layout  9. Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Canada  Circuit Details  Track Layout |
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29th March 2020, 17:29
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| BHPian Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Trichur
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| Part 5: Formula One – Beginners Guide Circuit and Races - Continued 10. Circuit Paul Ricard, France  Track Layout  11. Red Bull Ring, Austria  Track Layout  12. Silverstone Circuit, Great Britain  Track Layout  13.Hungaroring, Hungary  Track Layout  14. Circuit de spa francorchamps, Belgium  Track Layout  15. Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Italy  Track Layout  16. Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore  Track Layout  17. Sochi Autodrom, Russia  Track Layout  18. Suzuka Circuit, Japan  Track Layout  19. Circuit of the Americas, USA  Track Layout  20. Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Mexico  Track Layout  21. Autodromo Interlagos, Brazil  Track Layout  22. Yas Marina Circuit, United Arab Emirates  Track Layout  Circuit Details |
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29th March 2020, 17:40
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| BHPian Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Trichur
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| Part 6: Formula One – Beginners Guide 2020 Driver Line-up  Formula One’s Greatest Drivers Formula One brought out some of the greatest drivers ever on the planet earth. Find below some of the best drivers in F1 (not in any particular order)  You can read about the greatest drivers in F1 here: http://f1greatestdrivers.autosport.com/?driver=1 |
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29th March 2020, 17:51
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| BHPian Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Trichur
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| Part 7: Formula One – Beginners Guide F1 Slang With lot of technicalities and jargons, newbies can find it difficult to understand the F1 commentaries. Once you understand these slangs, believe me it is way more enjoyable to listen to the F1 commentators. We provide you some of the popular F1 slangs below: POLESITTER The driver who claims pole position during qualifying for the race. DRS The drag reduction system (or DRS) is a form of driver-adjustable bodywork aimed at reducing aerodynamic drag in order to increase top speed and promote overtaking in motor racing.  It is an adjustable rear wing of the car, which moves in response to driver commands. DRS often comes with conditions, such as the pursuing car must be within a second (when both cars cross the detection point) for DRS to be activated. DRS was introduced in Formula One in 2011. The use of DRS is an exception to the rule banning any moving parts whose primary purpose is to affect the aerodynamics of the car. POWER UNIT To simply put it is the unit that powers (moves) the car.  Power units comprise the following six elements: The Internal Combustion Engine (ICE), the Turbo Charger (TC), the Motor Generator Unit – Heat (MGU-H), the Motor Generator Unit – Kinetic (MGU-K), the Energy Store (ES) and the Control Electronics (CE). All of these elements combine to give the current crop of F1 drivers a smidgen less than 1,000bhp to play with. BOX Box box.. This is something you will keep hearing many a times in an F1 race. It is a slang asking driver to come to the pits. Okay XYZ, box this lap, box box…Asking the driver to come to the pits.  GREEN TRACK Drivers usually face a ‘green track’ when they first head out for Friday practice during a Grand Prix weekend. It essentially means a circuit that hasn’t had much rubber laid down onto it yet, and is therefore not providing optimum grip in the dry. TANKSLAPPER A sideways moment for a driver where the back end of the car steps out. OVERSTEER/UNDERSTEER During cornering, oversteer is when the rear wheels of a car lose grip, causing the back end to step out. Understeer, on the other hand, is when the front wheels lose grip, which sees the car travel at a shallower angle than the one the driver is asking for with the steering wheel. Or to paraphrase the great rally driver Walter Rohrl, if you see the barrier you’ve driven into, that’s understeer. If you hear yourself hitting it, it’s oversteer. LIFT AND COAST What is it: If a driver is looking like they’re burning too much fuel to get to the end of a race, their engineer might tell them to ‘lift and coast’, meaning that the driver lifts off the throttle and cruises into a braking zone, which uses less fuel – although it obviously slows down their pace. BRAKE BIAS When a driver mashes the brake pedal, all four brakes act to slow the car down – but the driver can shift how effective the front brakes are compared to the rears by changing the brake bias.  In the wet, a driver will usually shift the brake bias more to the rear to stop the front brakes from locking, while drivers will also change the brake bias throughout a race as the balance of the car changes thanks to factors like lower fuel levels and tyre wear. FLATSPOT  When the driver locks his front brakes, causing one or both front tyres to stop rotating, meaning they slide longitudinally along the track as opposed to rolling along it, plaining a flat surface onto the tyre. |
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29th March 2020, 17:53
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29th March 2020, 18:20
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| BHPian  Join Date: Sep 2019 Location: KL-38
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| re: Formula 1 – A Beginner's Guide Man this could not have come at a better time! Sometime around December 2019 or January 2020 videos that included the name Lewis Hamilton was frequently getting recommended to me by YouTube; to cool down my growing curiosity, I decided to watch Lewis Hamilton take Usain Bolt on a drive with the AMG GT R. I was amazed by how calm Lewis was while Usain was praying for his life  . Pretty soon I found myself watching videos of Hamilton's best overtakes and eventually I started watching videos of past races and funny moments. I am still a beginner but I think I've learned enough to know the different teams, name at least half of the drivers and more. I'm a Lewis Hamilton fan and support Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport. I was excited to watch the 2020 season but as you know circumstances prevented it. I wanted to clear many doubts and learn more about the F1 and that's exactly when I came across your post. It taught me, ironed my knowledge and cleared my doubts. Thanks a bunch! |
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29th March 2020, 19:11
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| BHPian  Join Date: Dec 2019 Location: NCR
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29th March 2020, 21:29
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| Distinguished - BHPian   | re: Formula 1 – A Beginner's Guide As someone who's been addicted to the sport for two decades, I must say, that's a very comprehensive introduction to the mad mad world of f1. Though, I think the most exciting years of the sport are far gone. However, there is still nothing that beats a good race on a weekend. Quote:
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29th March 2020, 21:33
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| BHPian Join Date: Sep 2019 Location: KL-38
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| re: Formula 1 – A Beginner's Guide Quote:
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29th March 2020, 21:42
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| Distinguished - BHPian | re: Formula 1 – A Beginner's Guide Quote:
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29th March 2020, 21:55
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| Team-BHP Support  Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: All over!
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30th March 2020, 17:09
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| Re: Part 6: Formula One – Beginners Guide Quote:
For ex. - Gilles Villeneuve and Ayrton Senna were known to push inferior machines to their limit and wring out unlikely wins. - Jackie Stewart and Niki Lauda were known to caress their cars over the finish lines without facing mechanical failures and were very precise. - Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell benefited from William's hugely advanced active suspension and simply left everyone in the dust, something similar to what Hamilton and Vettel did in the previous decade very well (though they are supremely talented as well, not doubting it one bit). - Then there is the issue of their team mates' misfortunes like Webber and Ricciardo who always had issues in their cars whereas Vettel and Ver were winning races. I believe another list should actually encompass multiple racing disciplines like rallying, endurance etc as well which will yield new results if you survey motorsport fans. Here are some of the non-F1 greats: WEC: Tom Kristensen (8 times Le Mans winner), Ken Miles! WRC: Tommi Makinen, Colin McRae, Richard Burns, Sebastien Loeb, Sebastien Ogier Also, the Isle of Man TT racers are in a different league-John McGuinness, Guy Martin, Michael Dunlop and co. | |
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