Understanding a F1 Grand Prix… (Part 1)
All through the Formula One season we have said and heard that it was an exciting one. Many times we hear analysts say that such a season has not been witnessed in decades or that the contention is tough this year. Many similar comments come and go every
now and then, as we keep wondering why it is so?
If you are new to the auto racing world or precisely to Formula One, all this might make a little sense to you. The Formula One calendar has more or less same tracks year after year with addition or subtraction of hardly one or two. The cars here have been
the fastest since always and it is already known to everybody that the drivers are also the fastest and daring than anywhere else. Then, what makes one season different from the other? Why are some races more thrilling and nail biting than the others? or else
more boring? This could only be understood if you know the sport better.
Having a little understanding of the sport could make the entire experience of watching it a lot different.
Currently, as the Formula One caravan gets ready to enter South Korea- its new rendezvous-, hundreds of thousands of race fans from around the globe are heading to witness the event. To relish this round to the maximum, one needs to know exactly what is
going on the track. The most expensive sport of the world must be savoured and cherished to the maximum to actually know what makes it that extravagant.
The race is not only about a driver and his skills, rather it is a team sport. A team that is unmatched to any other on earth. The best engineers of the planet, most brilliant technicians, highly dedicated mechanics that work around the clock and factories
with the latest and the most advanced laboratories on galaxy are just some of its aspects. Believe you me, there is a lot more to it.
It is quite a complicated sport, involving science and technology and management and strategies and all you could think of. The deeper you get in to it, the more are your chances to fall in love with it.
A F1 Grand Prix usually stretches to three-days, normally starting with a Friday. The fascinating Friday brings the cars on the track for the first time. Two practice sessions are held and each extends up to 2 hour and 30 minutes. This is to make the cars and
the drivers immune with the ups and downs of the track and make appropriate adjustments as well.
Another reason for this is to test the updates and developments of the cars. As there are three practice sessions, the teams get the opportunity to test, amend and re-test. Moreover, the final design of next year’s car is also checked in the Friday practice.
These two practices are followed by the final one on Saturday morning. Although, these sessions are not compulsory for the teams yet all carry them as they are important for their good performance on Sunday.
Once all the three practices are done, the cars are fine-tuned and the drivers are warmed up as the qualifying on Saturday afternoon takes place. The qualifying decides the pole position and the grid places for the final race day. This means that the arrangement
of starting order for the real race on Sunday is decided at the qualifying.
As the caravan of cars now heads for its sixteenth race at the Yeongam Circuit, a 1 hour qualifying that is divided into three rounds, is scheduled to take place on 23rd October 2010.
To know more about the qualifying, race and a lot more, stay tuned….
(To be continued in Part 2)
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