#f1 resource

‘Free’ Resources

- The first thing I’d recommend is the technical and sporting regulations but I wouldn’t recommend you trying to read them end to end as they’d be very dull but whenever you see one of them referenced in a stewards document look it up and try to get an understanding of the background. You’ll soon have a pretty solid understanding of all the main infringements.

- Free Practice Sessions; I know they aren’t technically free but…

Genuinely if you can find a stream for a FP session there is usually quite good information about the track characteristics as well as the tyre strategies, who usually goes well here, etc (depending on your commentators)

- Youtube; for technical information I would recommend ChainBear and for motorsport history CYMotorsport both are absolutely incredible and really accessible for new viewers. Also on Sky Sports F1’s YouTube they often post the Sky Pad clips and I would recommend watching these if you don’t get them in your feed as they can bring a really good insight about the different lines that drivers take into a corner amongst other things.

- Podcasts; F1Nation - they usually do really great race previews and race reviews which let you know what to look out for, not super technical but good background knowledge. Also Autosport have a very good podcast called “F1 and More” where they do a similar thing but also have practice and qualifying reviews.

- F1 Website; honestly it sounds simple but take a look at some of the articles on the F1 website if you have time, especially the Tech Tuesday ones, as well as their Tech Talk series of videos. They actually have a lot of really interesting analysis videos and articles on there. They also usually go through the strategy options before a race. There is also a glossary of all the key F1 terms here. Also keep an eye out for whenever Ross Brawn does an article.

F1TV; yes another one that isn’t technically free but I’m sure you can find these elsewhere. Jolyon Palmers analysis, honestly these are so great post race where he looks back over the key moments and is able to give both a drivers insight as well as a more technical insight. I especially love it when he shows the telemetry data. There is also more in-depth Tech-Talk videos on here and they are really interesting.

- Reddit; I know F1 Reddit can sometimes be quite gatekeepy but its actually getting better; there’s the main r/Formula1 page and there’s also r/F1technical which is really interesting and also has a lot of technical discussions but they aren’t overly complex and people there are a lot more willing to explain things. This is where I often get a lot of news about upgrades and stuff from as I rarely use Twitter.

Books

This is where I actually started and a lot of the books I read were quite old as I either bought them second hand or borrowed them from my dad, but here we go

- Adrian Newey “How to Build a Car” this is one of my favourites as it’s part autobiography, part technical book and it goes through his years working for different teams and the regulation changes that took place. If you don’t know Adrian Newey is Red Bull’s chief aerodynamicist and helped design all of their cars for many years.

- Steve Matchett “The Mechanics Tale” less technical but this tells the story of an F1 mechanic through the years, and gives more background into the world of F1 as a whole.

- David Tremayne “The Science of Formula 1 Design” and “The Science of Speed” his books on F1 are really incredible and informative but not in a stuffy way; they are easy to pick up and read.

- Giorgio Piola “Formula 1 Technical Analysis” there are so many of these books, they used to come out annually but it’s the illustrations in these books that make them so special. Real photos are never used and instead there’s incredibly realistic drawings of all the cars as well as that years regulation changes. I’ve got the year that all the cars had the proboscis noses (the dick nosed cars) and yet he’s made them look beautiful and the information is so helpful if you are interested in a particular year. He actually does a lot of work with motorsport now, on technical analysis still creating beautiful illustrations

- Ross Brawn “Total Competition” this is a real interesting look into F1 strategy and creating a championship winning team but also looks into the business side of F1 as well.

- Derek Seward “Race Car Design” a little more like a textbook, I’ve read extracts of it and it has been really interesting. This one is more engineering heavy though.