#f1 explained

Alternative format Google Doc (6.4k word count) is available here with plain text and image descriptions!

Here's an intro to Formula 1 (as a sport) for 2026 and beyond. Learn about quali, the races, tyre compounds, the tracks, and much much more! This also includes all of the new regulation changes so check out that slide if you want to see what's new for this year.

1) I could listen to him explain things for hours

Formula 1 is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel, single-seater formula racing cars. 11 teams, 22 drivers, nail-biting drama.

The reason it's called 'formula 1' is because the 'formula' in this refers to a set of rules and regulations that all teams must follow. The 'one' means that this is the highest and most advanced class of formula racing in the world, the highest category compared to f2, f3 and f4.

Though the actual race is on sundays, the typical race weekend starts on thursdays.

Thursday: media day

Friday: free practices 1 and 2*

Saturday: free practice 3 and qualifying*

Sunday: race day

(*if it's a sprint weekend, the sprint qualifying is on friday after one free practice session and sprint race on saturday before the actual qualifying sessions.)

What happens on media day?

Twenty components. One thousand horsepower. And a machine so precisely engineered that a change of a few millimetres can be worth tenths of a second. Here is what you are actually looking at.

There is a moment at the start of every race weekend, usually during the first practice session on Friday, when the cameras cut to a wide shot of a Formula 1 car sitting in the garage, stationary, bathed in the team's colours.

To a new fan, it looks like a very fast, very complicated car.

It is both of those things. But it is also something more: a rolling compromise between competing forces, built to tolerances measured in fractions of a millimetre, by teams of hundreds of engineers, at a cost that would fund a small country's infrastructure budget. Every single component on a Formula 1 car exists for a reason. Nothing is there by accident. And once you understand what each part does, the car you are watching on track transforms into something else entirely, a physical argument about the nature of speed, made in carbon fibre and rubber.

Here is what you are looking at.

The Floor and Diffuser

Start at the bottom, literally, because in modern Formula 1, this is the most important part of the car.

As you learned in my previous article on the 2022 regulation changes, modern Formula 1 cars generate most of their downforce from the underside, not the wings and bodywork above. The floor has sculpted Venturi tunnels that speed airflow beneath the car. Faster air means lower pressure, so the car is sucked toward the track. Greater speed increases this suction, pressing the tyres harder into the road.

At the back of the floor sits the diffuser, a ramp-shaped section that allows the high-speed air from underneath to expand and exit cleanly. The diffuser is one of the most performance-sensitive parts of the entire car. A fraction of extra efficiency here is worth lap time that no other single component can replicate. It is also one of the reasons teams guard their car designs so obsessively. If a rival team photographs your diffuser at the right angle, they can learn months of your engineering work in a single image. The 2026 regulations have slightly reduced reliance on extreme ground effect compared to the 2022 era. They raise the optimal ride height and reduce the risk of violent bouncing porpoising that plagued teams four years ago. The principle remains the same. The floor is still king.

Front and Rear Wings

The wings are what most people picture when they think of an F1 car: those dramatic horizontal blades at the front and the tall structure at the back. They generate downforce by pushing air over a shaped surface, creating lower pressure above and higher pressure below, which pulls the car toward the ground. Think of them as upside-down aircraft wings: instead of generating lift, they generate grip.

The front wing does more than generate downforce, though. It also shapes and directs the airflow that feeds the rest of the car's aerodynamic surfaces, including the floor, sidepods, and diffuser. A small change to the front wing can affect the aerodynamic behaviour of the entire car, which is why teams bring new front wing specifications to almost every race.

The rear wing provides stability, especially under braking. Run it too high, and you add drag, slowing the car on straights. Run it too low, and you lose rear grip in corners. Each race weekend, the team sets a wing angle for the circuit: low downforce for power tracks like Monza, where speed matters most; high downforce for twisty circuits like Monaco, where grip is everything.

In 2026, both the front and rear wings gained a significant new feature, which brings us to one of the most important changes in the sport's recent history.

Active Aero and the End of DRS

For over a decade, Formula 1 used DRS, the Drag Reduction System, to aid overtaking. In designated zones, a driver within one second of the car ahead could open a flap on the rear wing. This reduced drag and provided a burst of top speed. It was controversial; some felt it made overtaking too artificial, but it was effective.

From 2026, DRS is gone. In its place is Active Aero: movable front and rear wings that adjust dynamically based on the car's position. In corners, the wings close and generate maximum downforce. On straights, the wings open, reducing drag and increasing top speed. Every driver benefits every lap; it is not restricted to the car behind.

Alongside Active Aero, 2026 introduced two further tools for drivers. The Boost Button deploys maximum electrical power at any point on the lap. This feature is useful for defending a position or seizing an opportunity in an unexpected place. Overtake Mode activates when a driver gets within one second of the car ahead at a designated detection point, usually the final corner before a straight. It then unlocks an additional burst of electrical energy for the following lap. It is, in effect, DRS's spiritual successor: proximity still has its privileges.

The Power Unit

Beneath the bodywork and behind the driver, the power unit sits. Calling it simply an "engine" undersells it considerably.

Since 2014, Formula 1 has used hybrid power units that combine an internal combustion engine with an electric motor. The 2026 regulations dramatically shift the balance between these elements. Previously, power units relied heavily on combustion engines. In 2026, the split will be about fifty-fifty between petrol and electrical power. The electrical component, the MGU-K (Motor Generator Unit-Kinetic), now generates roughly 350 kilowatts of electrical power—a threefold increase compared to the previous era.

The total output of a 2026 power unit is around 1,000 horsepower. What makes this remarkable is not the headline figure, but how it is managed. Electrical energy is harvested under braking and throttle lift-off, stored in the battery, and released at the perfect moment. Drivers manage more than pace. They manage an energy budget, lap by lap and corner by corner.

The 2026 regulations removed the MGU-H. This heat recovery system, used in the previous era, was extraordinarily complex and expensive to develop. Its removal aimed to reduce costs and encourage new manufacturers. It worked: 2026 saw Audi and Ford join the grid as power unit suppliers alongside the returning Mercedes, Ferrari, Honda, and Red Bull Powertrains.

One further detail worth noting: 2026 F1 cars run entirely on advanced sustainable fuel derived from sources including carbon capture and municipal waste. This is not a cosmetic change. It is part of Formula 1's stated goal of reaching net-zero carbon by 2030.

Sidepods and Cooling

On either side of the cockpit sit the sidepods, the large sculpted bodywork sections that house the car's cooling systems. Inside them, radiators manage the temperature of the power unit, brakes, and electronics. Without effective cooling, a car would destroy itself within a handful of laps.

The sidepods are also aerodynamic surfaces in their own right. Their shape directs air toward the floor, the rear of the car, and the beam wing above the diffuser. Different teams take radically different approaches to sidepod design. Compare the wide, traditional shapes of some constructors against the dramatically undercut designs of others, and you begin to understand just how much philosophical disagreement exists between teams working from the same rulebook.

The 2026 cars are noticeably smaller than before: 100mm narrower and with a shorter wheelbase. This size reduction has allowed designers to rethink sidepod architecture significantly. There are fewer cars to cool and more freedom to route airflow around them.

The Tyres

Formula 1 tyres bear almost no resemblance to the tyres on your car, in the same way that a scalpel bears almost no resemblance to a kitchen knife.

Pirelli is Formula 1's exclusive tyre supplier. It provides five dry-weather compounds for the 2026 season: C1 is the hardest and most durable, while C5 is the softest, fastest, but most fragile. For each race weekend, Pirelli picks three compounds based on the circuit and expected temperatures. These are colour-coded: white for hard, yellow for medium, and red for soft. Green intermediates handle damp conditions. Blue full wets are for serious rain.

Every driver must use at least two different compounds during a dry race. This forces at least one pit stop and adds strategic complexity. Do you start on the soft tyre, run fast early, and pit sooner? Or start on the hard, run long, and have fresher rubber late in the race when others are struggling? Tyre strategy is a primary battleground at every Grand Prix. Teams with dedicated strategy engineers spend the entire race monitoring degradation data and modelling scenarios in real time.

A stint is simply the period of time a driver spends on one set of tyres  from the moment they leave the pit lane on fresh rubber to the moment they come in to change them again.

A race is made up of multiple stints. The number depends on how many pit stops a team chooses to make or is forced to make due to tyre degradation. Every driver must use at least two different compounds in a dry race, which guarantees at least one pit stop and therefore at least two stints.

The strategic question is always the same: how long can you push a set of tyres before the lap time loss from degradation outweighs the time cost of stopping? A soft tyre might be two seconds a lap faster than a hard one, but if it falls off a cliff after twenty laps while the hard runs cleanly for forty, the maths can favour the longer, slower stint. Getting that calculation right  and reacting when a rival does something unexpected is what race strategy is actually about.

The 2026 tyres are slightly narrower than the previous generation, 25mm less at the front, 30mm less at the rear, aligned with the new cars' lighter and more agile philosophy.

The Halo

Above the cockpit, connecting the front of the survival cell to the roll hoop behind the driver's head, sits a titanium structure called the Halo. When it was introduced in 2018, it was controversial; many felt it compromised the car's aesthetic and questioned its necessity.

It has since saved lives. Multiple times and without meaningful debate.

The Halo is designed to deflect large debris and withstand the weight of a car landing on top of it. It is tested to loads equivalent to roughly twelve tonnes. Drivers who once questioned it now defend it without reservation. It is a reminder that, despite the extraordinary technical sophistication of a Formula 1 car, the most important engineering priority has always been keeping the person inside it alive.

The 2026 roll hoop behind the Halo has been strengthened further, now required to withstand significantly greater vertical impact loads than before. The nose cone has also been redesigned as a two-stage structure; the front section shears off in a heavy impact, but a secondary section continues to offer protection against a follow-on collision.

What It All Adds Up To

A 2026 Formula 1 car weighs 768 kilograms, making it lighter than any car under the previous regulations. It generates more downforce than its own weight at high speed. It can accelerate from zero to 100 kilometres per hour in under 2 seconds and reach top speeds beyond 350 kilometres per hour. It will complete a lap of most circuits faster than any other vehicle on the planet.

And it does all of this while the driver inside it manages an energy budget, monitors tyre degradation, processes radio instructions from the pitwall, makes split-second decisions at closing speeds that allow no margin for error, and still finds the last hundredth of a second in a corner nobody else has found yet.

The car is remarkable. The person inside it might be even more so.

I am so sorry that it took me so long to reply

(love the crash course pun, I'm always happy to infodump about f1)

F1 is a motor racing series. It's the highest class for international open wheel single seater racing, and it's governed by the FIA (you'll find out that I don't like the FIA very much. I think its corrupt).

In f1, there are 10 teams with two drivers each. Each team tries to build the fastest car within a set of regulations. Said cars are marvels of engineering.

Teams and drivers 2025:

Red Bull

Engines: Honda RBPT

Race drivers:

Max Verstappen: Career number: 33 Country: Netherlands

Liam Lawson: Career number: 30 Country: New Zealand

Mercedes

Engines: Mercedes

Race drivers:

George Russell: Career number: 63 Country: United Kingdom

Andrea Kimi Antonelli: Career number: 12 Country: Italy

Other drivers: Valtteri Bottas (Third)

Ferrari

Engines: Ferrari

Race drivers:

Charles Leclerc: Career number: 16 Country: Monaco

Lewis Hamilton (omg it's happening): Career number: 44 Country: United Kingdom

McLaren

Engines: Mercedes

Race drivers:

Lando Norris: Career number: 4 Country: United Kingdom

Oscar Piastri: Career number: 81 Country: Australia

Aston Martin

Engines: Mercedes

Race drivers:

Fernando Alonso: Career number: 14 Country: Spain

Lance Stroll: Career number: 18 Country: Canada

Alpine

Engines: Renault

Race drivers:

Pierre Gasly: Career number: 10 Country: France

Jack Doohan: Career number: 7 Country: Australia

Other drivers: Paul Aron (Reserve)Ryo Hirakawa (Reserve)2025 (Reserve)

Williams

Engines: Mercedes

Race drivers:

Alexander Albon: Career number: 23 Country: Thailand

Carlos Sainz Jnr: Career number: 55 Country: Spain

Racing Bulls

Engines: Honda RBPT

Race Drivers:

Yuki Tsunoda: Career number: 22 Country: Japan

Isack Hadjar: Career number: TBC Country: France

Sauber

Engines: Ferrari

Race drivers:

Nico Hulkenberg: Career number: 27 Country: Germany

Gabriel Bortoleto: Career number: 5 Country: Brazil

Haas

Engines: Ferrari

Race drivers:

Oliver Bearman: Career number: 87 Country: United Kingdom

Esteban Ocon (❤️): Career number: 31 Country: France

There are two championships, the wdc, won by individual drivers, and the wcc, won by the team. Championship points are accumulated by finishing high in grand prix races. Points are awarded to top 10 finishers:

The typical layout of a grand prix weekend is this:

Friday:

Fp1 (stands for final practice one. It's for experimenting with setups, tires and strategies)

Fp2

Saturday:

Fp3 (after this cars are in parc ferme. You cannot change the setup of the car in parc ferme)

qualifying:

Q1 (first stage of qualifying. The five drivers with the slowest lap times around the circuit are eliminated)

Q2 (the next 5 slowest drivera are eliminated)

Q3 (shootout for pole position, which is the number one spot on the starting grid)

sunday:

Grand prix time baby! (The main race. The starting order is that as determined by qualifying+ penalties. Points are awarded to the top 10 finishers and tire compound must be changed at least once)

Sprint weekend:

Friday:

fp1

sprint qualifying (qualifying for the sprint race)

Saturday:

sprint race (shortened race. Points awarded to top 8 finishers. No obligation to change tires)

Regular qualifying

Sunday:

grand prix

Tires:

Tires in f1 are provided by pirelli. There are 5 dry compounds:

the C1 is the hardest compound, best for long runs as it's long lasting but comparatively slow. The C5 is the softest, best for qualifying as it's fast but degrades quickly

There are 3 of these compounds used per weekend. The quickest are the sofas, the slowest are the hards and the balanced options are the mediums.

Wet weather tires:

Wet tires have a blue stripe and are rarely used as they are for extreme wet weather that normally warrants a safety car

Intermediate tyres are commonly used for wet races. They are theoretically between slick tyres (dry weather tyres) and full wets

flags in f1:

(ATP I'm too tired to give my own explanations for the flags, so have this cool infographic)

Virtual safety car: all cars must reduce their speed by 30%

Safety car: all cars must follow the safety car. There will be no overtaking

Stats:

link to a Wikipedia list of driver records

Link to a Wikipedia list of constructor records

Random Drama and funny stuff that happened in f1 that I will be referring to:

The Monaco curse was basically Charles Leclerc being utterly unsuccessful and unlucky at his home race. Broken in 2024. (Yk what I'm going to do with this)

Ferrari strategy is a joke based on Ferrari screwing up their strategy all the time in 2022

The underwear and earrings thing aka the FIA being stupid incidents are the FIA deciding they are a strict secondary school and creating regulations on underwear and jewellery

Brocedes aka the silver war is a homoerotic teenage friendship going wrong in a dramatic intra team rivalry. Occurred in 2016.

The briefcase incident where Gerahd Berger threw Ayrton Senna's briefcase out of a helicopter because he was bragging about it being practically indestructible

Berger putting 99 frogs in Senna's hotel room because he knew Senna would spend all night looking for the 100th. His response? Did you find the snake.

Seb Vettel and his finger

Seb Vettel and his bees

Vettel giving Hamilton's hotel room number to some grid girls

Roscoe and Leo interactions!! (Roscoe is Hamilton's dog and Leo is Leclerc's- some real Argos potential here)

Sergio Perez stealing Roscoe as an April fools joke

Penelope (not that Penelope- I mean Max Verstappen's niece) turning up on Verstappen's streams

Seb Vettel being a nerd and listing all the championship winners since the beginning of F1.

Papaya rules is basically McLaren giving their drivers as fair treatment as possible and it costing them in the wdc (epic fans- don't you see the vision?)

Esteban Ocon and Lewis Hamilton racing remote control cars

This is Hamilton's first time year at Ferrari in pursuit of the 8th wdc

This one is serious- Abu Dhabi 2021 is an incident where Lewis Hamilton was cheated out of a record breaking 8th world championship because the race director decided to invent some new rules

Good articles for learning more about F1:

what is f1

begginers guide to f1

f1 rules and regulations

f1 for beginners (video)

thats it ig bai bai

-Aikya

F1 Glossary

107% rule

During Q1, any driver who fails to set a lap within 107 percent of the fastest Q1 time will not be allowed to start the race.

However, in some circumstances - which could include a driver setting a suitable time during practice, the stewards may permit the car to start (more often than not the driver is allowed to start)

Appeal

An action that a team takes on its drivers' behalf if it feels that they have been unfairly penalised by the race officials.

The window for asking for a review after an event will be shortened from the current 14 day period to four days, or 96 hours for 2024

Bottoming

When the underside of the car hits the track surface, visually producing sparks. This is usually because of a stiff suspension set up and/or a bumpy track surface

Clean air

Air that isn't turbulent. A car is in ‘clean air’ when it has a gap of at least 5 seconds to the car in front.

Clean air provides the optimum conditions for an F1 car

Degradation (tyre)

The process by which a tyre loses performance or grip, caused by the tyre going through heat cycles (getting warm and cooling down)

Delta time

A term used to describe the time difference between two different laps or two different cars.

Dirty air

Turbulent air that comes off of the back of the car in front. Being in dirty air affects the handling of a car and can cause it to overheat

Downforce

The aerodynamic force that is applied in a downwards direction as a car travels forwards (essentially it is negative lift). This is harnessed to improve a car's handling through corners.

Flat spot

The area of a tyre that is worn heavily on one spot after a moment of extreme braking or in the course of a spin or lock up.

This ruins its handling, often causing severe vibration, and may force a driver to pit for a replacement set of tyres

Ground Effect

A method of inducing downforce by manipulating airflow under the car through the use of winglets and tunnels to create a low pressure area

Handling

The car's responsiveness to driver input and its ability to negotiate corners effectively.

A car that handles well will typically be well-balanced and not understeer or oversteer to any great degree.

LiCo (Lift and Coast)

Something that the race engineer will tell the driver to do if they are burning too much fuel or overheating the car.

It means that the driver will lift off of the throttle early and coast into the braking zone - this slows down their pace so it’s not ideal

Lock-up

The term used to describe a driver braking sharply and 'locking' one or more tyres whilst the others continue rotating. Tyre smoke and flat spots are common side effects.

Marbles

The small pieces of tyre rubber that break off the tyres and then accumulate at the side of the track off the racing line. Typically these are very slippery when driven on.

Out brake

A term used to describe a driver braking either too late or too softly and subsequently overrunning a corner. A common mistake made during overtaking moves.

Oversteer

When a car's rear end doesn't want to go around a corner and tries to overtake the front end as the driver turns in towards the apex. Essentially the rear end of the car moves too much (kicks out) and could cause the car to spin

Parc ferme

A fenced-off area into which cars are driven after qualifying and the race, where no team members are allowed to touch them except under the strict supervision of race stewards.

This is where the post qualifying and post race checks take place.

Cars are under Parc Ferme conditions from the start of qualifying until the start of the race meaning that their set ups can’t be changed during this time.

Plank

A hard permaglass strip (also known as a skid block) that is fitted front-to-back down the middle of the underside of all cars to check that they are not being run too close to the track surface, something that is apparent if the plank is excessively worn.

Porpoising

An aerodynamic phenomenon caused by ground effect where the airflow under the car is suddenly stalled causing a loss of downforce resulting in the car springing upwards. This process continues with the car getting sucked towards the track due to the ground effect, the airflow stalling and then the car springing upwards. This creates a repetitive bouncing, typically on the straights.

The effect can be minimised by raising the ride height

Ride height

The height between the track's surface and the floor of the car.

Scrutineering

The technical checking of cars by the officials to ensure that none are outside the regulations.

Shakedown

A brief test when a team is trying a different car part or a new car for the first time before going back out to drive at 100 percent to set a fast time.

Teams will often run a 100km shakedown at the start of the season before pre season testing

Understeer

Where the front end of the car doesn't want to turn into a corner and slides wide as the driver tries to turn in towards the apex.

Venturi Tunnels

Channels under the floor of the car to funnel and accelerate airflow

The channels have a specific hourglass shape, wide opening and exit with a narrow centre section.

Uh…basically this

- Christian Horner texts from his HR case leaked

- Jos Verstappen rumoured to be the one who leaked them

- Christian and Jos have a big fight last Friday

- Jos says RB will explode if Christian stays

- It comes out that Mohammed Ben Sulayem asked Max to publicly state his support for Christian (it later comes out that Max told him to sort it out for himself)

- Jos pictured talking to Toto -> rumours Max will move to Mercedes (Toto says “anything is possible”)

- Adrian Newey to move to Ferrari if Max goes

- Helmut says he won’t stand in Max’s way if he chooses to leave, rumoured that Max has a break clause he can’t enact whenever he wants

- Rumours that Jos is friendly with/sleeping with the employee who accused Christian

- Business F1 publishes an article alluding to Christian having more than one flirtation with employees

- Rumours that Ford is trying to get out of the engine deal

- Mohammed Ben Sulayem is now being investigated for tampering with race results in 2023, and for trying to stop the Las Vegas GP from going ahead.

- Rumours that the Austrian part of Redbull wanted a partnership with Porsche not Ford and Christina ruined it

- Rumours that Christian attempted to buy Redbull racing from Redbull GmbH with investment from financiers, without the knowledge of the Austrian faction, at which point they said:

And now we’re here.

Hope that clears things up for you.

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