Your Beginner's Guide To Formula 1

Have you just gotten into Formula 1, or want to get into Formula 1, but don’t know much about it? Well, here’s a beginner's guide on what you need to know. 

(Image credit to: Kym Illman)

First, Formula 1 has been around for 75 years, starting in 1950. Many things have changed and evolved to make the sport the way it is today. The Federation Internationale de l’Automodile (FIA) is the foundation. They create the rules and regulations which teams must follow.

Teams and drivers- There are 10 teams with 2 drivers per team, equaling 20 drivers. The teams and their respective divers are as follows:

• McLaren Formula 1 - Lando Norris & Oscar Piastri

• Scuderia Ferrari - Charles Leclerc & Lewis Hamilton

• Oracle Red Bull Racing - Max Verstappen & Yuki Tsunoda

• Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team- George Russell & Andrea Kimi Antonelli

• Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team - Fernando Alonso & Lance Stroll

• BWT Alpine F1 Team - Pierre Gasly & Franco Colapinto

• MoneyGram Haas F1 Team - Esteban Ocon & Ollie Bearman

• Visa Cash App Racing Bulls - Liam Lawson & Isack Hadjar

• Atlassian Williams Racing - Alex Albon & Carlos Sainz

• Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber - Nico Hulkenberg & Gabriel Bortoleto

Race weekends: A race weekend lasts from Thursday to Sunday. Thursday is media day, when the teams are seen in the paddock doing media duties and interviews. Friday and Saturday each consist of 2 sessions. Sunday is Grand Prix day.  There are two types of race weekends: A Grand Prix Race weekend and a Sprint weekend.  A normal race weekend consists of 3 free practice sessions (FP1, FP2, FP3), a Qualifying, and the Grand Prix.  A Sprint weekend consists of 1 free practice session (FP1), a Sprint Qualifying, the Sprint Race, Grand Prix Qualifying, and the Grand Prix. On a Grand Prix Race weekend, Friday will consist of FP1 and FP2. Saturday will consist of FP3 and Qualifying. Then Sunday is the Grand Prix.  On a Sprint weekend, Friday will consist of FP1 and Sprint Qualifying. Saturday will consist of the Sprint Race and Grand Prix Qualifying. Then Sunday is the Grand Prix. 

So now you might be thinking, what is the whole point of the Formula One season? During the Formula One season, the drivers and teams compete in 24 races around the world to gain points and battle to win the drivers or constructors' championships. The World Drivers' Championship is solely based on the points each driver scores across the season. However, the World Constructors' Championship is based on the combined points of each driver for a team score. Sprints races and Grand Prix allocate points differently. In a Grand Prix Race, the top 10 score the following points:

• 1st-25

• 2nd-18

• 3rd-15

• 4th-12

• 5th-10

• 6th-8

• 7th-6

• 8th-4

• 9th-2

• 10th-1

In a Sprint race, only the top 8 score points- with 1st scoring 8 points, then going down by 1 point for each place so that 8th place scores 1 point.

This 2025 season, Formula 1 race at 24 tracks, across 21 countries, and 5 continents. 6 of those races will include a Sprint race. Here is this season's schedule: 

• Australian GP March 13-16

• Chinese GP March 20-23 (Sprint)

• Japanese GP April 03-06

• Bahrain GP April 11-13

• Saudi Arabian GP April 18-20

• Miami GP May 02-04 (Sprint)

• Emilia Romagna GP May 16-18

• Monaco GP May 23-25

• Spanish GP May 30-June 01

• Canadian GP June 13-15

• Austrian GP June 27-29

• British GP July 04-06

• Belgian GP July 25-27 (Sprint)

• Hungarian GP August 01-03

• Dutch GP August 29-31

• Italian GP September 05-07

• Azerbaijan Gp September 19-21

• Singapore GP October 03-06

• United States GP October 17-19 (Sprint)

• Mexico City GP October 24-26

• São Paulo GP November 7-9 (Sprint)

• Las Vegas GP November 20-22

• Qatar GP November 28-30 (Sprint)

• Abu Dhabi GP December 05-07

Now, tyres (or tires), Pirelli provides the race tyres for each race weekend. There are now 8 different tyres compounds- a new one recently added. Slick tyres, used in dry conditions, range from C1 - C6, C1 being the hardest and C6 being the softest. The harder the tyre, the longer they last, but they provide less grip and are therefore slower. The softer the tyre, the shorter it lasts and the more grip it has, making it faster. They recently added the C6 tyre, which is the softest of the slick range. Then there are two types of wet tyres, full wets and intermediates. Full wets are used when it is raining hard or if there is standing water on the track. Intermediates (or inters) are used when the track is slightly wet but not dry enough for slicks. Pirelli chooses three different slick compounds to bring to each race weekend: A hard, medium, and soft. Each tyre has a color coordinated to it, Hard = White, Medium = Yellow, Red = Soft, Inters = Green, Full Wets = Blue.

Now, here is some common F1 slang you need to know. First is “Box Box,” which the drivers' engineers tell them when it is time to make their pitstop to change tires. Another very common one is “DRS,” which stands for “Drag Reduction System”. It is a flap on the rear wing of their car that opens, allowing more air flow, which allows the car to go slightly faster but is only allowed in specific areas on the track. It can also only be used in a race when a driver is within 1 second of a car in front of them. Some more common slang is “Oversteer” and “Understeer”, which is used to describe the type of traction a car has whilst taking corners. Oversteer is when the rear tyres lose grip and make it snap outwards. Understeer is when the front tyres lose grip and cause the car to turn less than desired. 

During the Formula One season you may witness mid-season driver swaps or hear about drivers being announced to move to a different team for the next Formula One season. This is referred to as the ‘silly season’ and often happens during the summer break as the drivers and teams are not actively competing during this time. This name comes from the fact that during this time rumours or unconfirmed swaps which are quite far-fetched or impossible may arise. One of the most recent and widely known driver swaps was the swap of Lewis Hamilton from Mercedes, the team he had been under since the 2013 Formula One season, to the infamous Scuderia Ferrari to live out his childhood dream of driving for the world-famous team. Another victim of the silly season last year was the Australian Daniel Ricciardo, who was swapped mid-season for Liam Lawson, as well as Logan Sargent, who was swapped after the Monza Grand Prix weekend for the young Argentinian talent Franco Colapinto.  

Whilst watching the Racing in Formula One is amazing in itself, I think all fans can agree that the commentators make it so much more enjoyable whether you watch Martin Brundle on Sky Sports or Laura Winters on F1TV, you will come to learn that all of the commentators add to the amazing atmosphere of the sport. Sky Sports Martin Brundle creates an amazing build-up to each race through his infamous grid walk that fascinates all Sky Sports watchers throughout the United Kingdom and Europe. During the grid walk, Martin interviews countless celebrities and even has the chance to talk to the drivers and team principals to get their opinion on the race ahead of them before passing it onto David ‘“Crofty” Croft to do the main commentating for the race. Laura Winters on F1TV is an incredibly talented and inspirational broadcaster that has inspired many young female fans to pursue their dreams of working and racing in motorsport through her powerful speech that states “we are here to stay and we are right where we belong.” 

Article written by: Haley Hall & Lexi Mitchell