FOR THE ROOKIES
F1 truly is an international sport. Each race takes place at a different track, in a different time zone and on the other side of the world to the last. However the structure of the weekend stays more or less the same throughout the season. So, for the rookies, here's the rundown:
Thursday - Press Conferences:
By Thursday the teams and the drivers will have arrived. Thursday is dedicated to press conferences interviewing some of the drivers, usually those who are at their home race or were part of a highlight during the previous race. These normally take place in the afternoon.
Friday - Practice:
Friday hosts two practice sessions (FP1 and FP2.) Each session lasts 60 minutes and allows drivers to get used to the track conditions and the car. The FP1 session can be taken by a ‘third driver;' they can be a test, reserve or junior driver for the team. These sessions are again followed up by a press conference.
Saturday - Final Practice and Qualifying:
On Saturday there is the third and final practice session, FP3, which is also an hour in length. This often runs in the late morning or early afternoon. A few hours after practice, qualifying begins.
Like practice, qualifying has three stages:
Q1
All 20 drivers take part in Q1. They have 20 minutes to set a time and their fastest lap will determine if they make it into the second session. If they aren't in the top 15 fastest times, they will be eliminated and will line up in position 16 - 20 on the grid.
Q2
Then the15 fastest drivers from Q1 have 15 minutes drive more flying laps, the fastest of which will again determine if the driver makes it into the final qualifying session. The top 10 fastest driver making it into Q3 but there's a catch: the tyres that they completed their fastest lap on during Q2 will be the tyres they start the race on. The drivers in the positions from 11 - 15 are eliminated and line up in the order of their fastest times.
Q3
After a short break the drivers who made it into Q3 have 12 minutes to produce the fastest time. This time will decide their placement for the starting grid on Sunday. This is usually the most exciting event of the day as you see the top drivers pushing for that ever so important pole position. This is of course followed by another press conference where we can all gain insights into the days events.
Sunday - Race Day:
Sunday means one thing - race day. The main event of the weekend.
Each race has a different number of laps but all races are around 305km overall, except Monaco which is a 260.5km race. Each driver must make one compulsory pit stop and use 2 different tyre compounds - unless when wet tyres are necessary.
Immediately after the race there are the podium celebrations where the top 3 drivers and the winning constructor collect their trophies and spray the champagne of course!
Don't forget the Support races!
Other formulas compete during some of the F1 race weekends such as F2 and F3. Their sessions fit in between the F1 sessions and they also have a similar press conference schedule. F2 in particular can be really exciting to watch and usually produces closer and more competitive races than F1 itself. It's definitely worth the watch!
So that's that, the race weekend - a pretty simple concept once you get your head round the many many acronyms!
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