Formula 1: Students’ Most Frequently Asked Questions About the Most Expensive Sport

Formula 1 is the world's most popular sporting event after the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup. As many as 600-800 million people watch the 20 cars drive around the circle. It makes the drivers stars of the highest level. In England, the most successful drivers and engineers become knights of the Order of the British Empire. In Latin America, streets and monuments are named and opened in honor of their champions. You know about the cult of Ferrari in Italy.

 
"Formula 1 is a class of cars. What we watch on TV and the circuits is officially called the "Formula 1 World Championship", and the event, for which Rolex is the official timekeeper, is held under the auspices of the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile) - the International Automobile Federation. Not every car that looks like a race car is a Formula 1. It can be Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula Renault, or even Formula Rus - and there are many such classes.

Accordingly, "Formula 1" is the fastest of all the "Formula". And to drive such a car, you need to have special permission from the FIA, which is called a "super license". To get it, young drivers have to chew out victories in the lower categories - the competition to get into the top class is unbelievable.

Many students are excited about car racing, especially the queen of racing. So if you want to watch the series of races Formula One instead of doing your homework, turn to paper writer on Writingapaper and enjoy watching it. You don't have to worry about the grade as professionals will do it perfectly.

Let's review the most popular questions students ask about Formula One.

How many races are there in the championship?

It's different every year. Racers have gone to the start 21 times in the last years. Races are held both on stationary race tracks (Italy, Spain, Germany, USA, Bahrain), and on city streets (Monaco, Singapore, Baku). There are also intermediate race tracks. Some are stationary and others are parks or part of the city. These are tracks in Australia and Canada: they are half-ready all year round and every time you have to close the park segment to build a temporary part of the track there. 

How many teams and drivers are there in Formula One?

If you take recent years, we are talking about ten teams, and each of them puts two cars. That is the start of the 20 best riders from around the world. In addition, each team has a reserve pilot, ready, if necessary, to replace their partners and go on start instead of them. But more often they work based on a team at the racing simulator and help engineers with the fine-tuning of existing machines.

The well-known teams are Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull, and McLaren. In addition to them in the championship are Renault, Haas, Racing Point, Alfa Romeo - Sauber, Toro Rosso (the second team of Red Bull), and Williams.

How is the champion determined?

In every race, the first ten drivers get prize points: the winner 25, the second place 18, the third 15, and so on. The tenth gets 1 point. Whoever gets the most points is the champion. If several pilots have the same number of points from the last race, then the number of wins is looked at. If they won the same number of times, the champion is determined by the number of second places, although this situation has never happened.

How do drivers decide in what order to start?

To find out who starts from which position in the race, the day before the race is qualifying - a series of races in which drivers do not compete with each other directly on the track, but simply try to show the best time. Whoever is fastest, starts first (it's called "pole position"). And so riders are placed on the starting grid according to their time in the qualification protocols.

Qualifying is held in three segments. The first - in it on the track leave all 20 riders. According to the results of the first segment of the elimination of the five slowest riders. Another five riders are eliminated in the second segment. In the third, the ten fastest drivers compete.

How long is the race?

As unsightly as it may sound, the race lasts 305 kilometers. And depending on the track, the pilots can cover this distance both in one hour and almost in two. Thus, the Grand Prix of Formula 1 is a competition "who is the fastest to drive 305 kilometers. This distance is the most optimal for watching the race on television. Less - will not be enough, and longer - no one will not watch.

The exception is the Monaco Grand Prix. The distance of the race is 260 km. Simply, if the pilots drove the entire distance, the race would last a little less than three hours - too much on the Côte d'Azur narrow and slow track. And the racers themselves are tired: in Monaco, maximum concentration, because on this track the slightest blunder can be fatal.

Are there any special races?

In terms of points, no, all races are equal and of equal value. However, there are four Grand Prix, the victory of which in the eyes of the racing public is higher than the others: these are the races in Monaco, Britain, Belgium, and Italy. The Monaco Grand Prix is generally one of the unofficial "Triple Crown," which also includes victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Indianapolis 500 Mile, among the three most prestigious races in the world. Only one man in history has been able to do this - the Briton Graham Hill, a two-time world champion.

Is it hard to drive an F1 car?

Very. First of all, even if you suddenly get behind the wheel of a car, you will not be able to touch the ground without proper training. So if you dream of driving a race car, you need a car to get experience in driving. Each car is an extremely complex device, which you need to know how to handle. If you do manage to start and pick up speed, you need to be able to not shut down - the pilots of Formula 1 are not just called "pilots", and the strain they experience is quite comparable with that felt by test pilots.

Therefore, the racers are not just in good physical shape - they are real athletes with tremendous stamina. For example, 2009 champion Jenson Button as a hobby runs triathlons, and Italian veteran Alessandro Zanardi at 49 years became a four-time Paralympic champion (during one of the races Zanardi had an accident that almost cut him in half, and he amputated both legs).

How fast do Formula 1 cars go?

Incredibly fast. Nobody will give exact figures, because no one knows them, and cars are adjusted for each track separately. If you need maximum speed, as in the Italian Grand Prix, then apply the same settings, and there it can reach 370 km / h (speed record - 372.6 km/h, it was set by Juan-Pablo Montoya in 2005). On other tracks, the maximum speed of cars is lower, but due to other settings, they accelerate much faster. For example, acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h in 2 seconds in some situations is even too slow.

Who develops them?

Each team has to design and develop their cars independently. Yes, they can resort to the help of partners and buy some major components, but only within the regulations. For example, although the Sauber team buys engines from Ferrari, it must develop its chassis, in which this engine is placed, and decide how to place it in the car.

In addition, the cars have unified elements. For example, the Halo head safety system, engine control unit, and tires are the same in all vehicles.

How much is a Formula 1 car worth?

"Formula 1" is all about racing sports cars. Again, there are no exact prices. It is individual. We are talking about 5-6 million euros if we count only the production and assembly of one car. We can safely call the sums of €100 million for small teams if we talk about the development of a bolide.

Accordingly, each crash means hundreds of thousands of euros to repair the car. Of course, teams rarely perform on the last money, but when you realize that the starting breakdown costs two apartments in the area of Patriarch's ponds, it's a little shocking.