107 Pursuit

With the 2024 season having started recently, the new batch of fans must be kept up to date. This in-depth Formula 1 2024 guide will give you all of the updated and necessary knowledge before the season to begin watching!

To start, there are four days part of a race weekend.

Thursday is media day. Drivers take this day to participate in FIA press conferences and other interviews. On this day, you see many drivers come together to provide content and have fun before race day. Some of the most iconic F1 moments and interactions between have occurred on media day. You may even see team principals feature in these press conferences where the animosity between them is quite entertaining.

Friday is where Free Practice 1 & 2 occur. These two sessions allow teams to freely drive the car on the track and monitor their performance to make any adjustments if needed. This is where they collect any data necessary to prepare for race day.

Saturday is Free Practice 3 and Qualifying. This last practice session allows teams to make any final changes and review their data. Later, the qualifying session begins. The following image is derived from this year’s Australian Grand Prix qualifying session on F1TV.

There are three sectors of each track. Each driver’s time is measured in each sector to determine who is quickest. Once a driver becomes the quickest, the sector color turns purple, something every driver wants. An overall lap time is set by each driver to determine the starting grid for the race the next day. The quickest of all 20 drivers receives pole position, position one, followed by the other drivers based on their time. The chart also shows what tires they are on and the intervals between drivers.

Sunday is race day. Let’s look at each aspect of a race and what they mean.

This is the sidebar. Let’s go left to right. The numbers represent a driver’s position on the track. The icons next to the number is the logo of the team a driver is driving for. The three letters following that represent the first three letters of a driver’s last name. This section with the times either show “interval” or “leader”. Interval shows the time between the driver and the driver one place above them. When it says leader, it shows the time between each driver and the race leader. The monograms S, M, or H display the type of tire the driver is currently on. Lastly, the pink icon next to the driver on the far right is awarded to the driver with the fastest lap time.

During a race, you’ll often hear the words “box box” be said over the radio. This means that the driver will go in for a pit stop.

Pit stops are part of a team’s race strategy based on the track and its conditions as well as the weather. The timing of these stops is very crucial to avoid losing positions and other concerns. Teams often conduct two to three pit stops per driver, per race, but sometimes it is more or less depending on the condition of the car. Drivers also go to the pits to retire due to an issue with the car, collisions, or personal difficulty. The average pit stop lasts two to three seconds and McLaren holds the record for the fastest pit stop time being 1.8 seconds, beating Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT by 0.02 seconds at the 2023 Qatar GP.

During a pit stop, drivers change their tires.

The first three tires seen are called slick tires. They are meant for dry conditions with six compounds ranging from C0-C5. C0 is the hardest tire with C5 being the softest. Gray=Hard, Yellow=Medium, Red=Soft

The hard tires are meant for fast circuits and last the longest with minimal grip. Medium tires are versatile and can be used for any circumstances, except for wet. They are a good middle ground between hard and soft tires. Soft tires are meant for slow circuits and don’t last long but have maximum grip for best performance.

The last two tires seen in the diagram are meant for wet conditions such as rain. The green tire is optimal for damp conditions with no rain. This tire is often referred to as inters (intermediates). The blue tire is best for fully wet conditions, giving it more grip in heavy rain. They are referred to as wets.

There is a handful of flags used during a race. While not all of them are used, they each have their own meaning.

The green flag indicates the start of a race or that the track is clear after a crash or unclear track conditions.

The yellow flag tells a driver to slow down. It is often used for hazards.

The double yellow flag is used to tell drivers to significantly slow down in light of marshalls on track.

The red flag is used to indicate the race has been stopped often due to major crashes and dangerous conditions but are used for a variety of reasons.

The red and yellow striped flag tells drivers the road is slippery up ahead and to tread carefully.

The blue flag is shown to let a car know they have been lapped and must let faster cars behind them go ahead of them.

The white flag is used to indicate there are slow-moving vehicles ahead and other miscellaneous vehicles.

The black flag indicates a driver is disqualified and they must return to the pits.

The black flag with the orange circle indicates a car is damaged or has failure and must return to pits.

The diagonal black and white flag warns a driver on unsportsmanlike behavior.

The checkered flag indicates the end of a race.

Another aspect of an F1 race is the safety car. The safety car is put on the track when there has been a damaging collision to slow down the other drivers while the marshalls clear the track.

There is also a VSC (Virtual Safety Car) for minor incidents where drivers must slow down until cleared.

Once the race has ended, only the top 10 drivers are awarded points. Each point they are given is shown below. A driver is awarded an additional point for getting the fastest lap as seen with Max Verstappen for this race.

There is also a constructor’s championships that puts together the total number of points by both drivers of a team to show the total points of a team in these standings.

Now that each aspect of a race has been covered, let’s look at each team and each driver. The following images are all derived from the official Formula 1 website.

Starting with Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT. The team principal is Christian Horner with their two drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio ‘Checo’ Perez. This team uses a Honda RBPT power unit.

Max Verstappen joined Formula 1 in 2015 and joined RB in 2016. He is a three time world champion and leads the 2024 championship. He is often nicknamed ‘Mad Max’ or ‘The Flying Dutchman’. He is from the Netherlands.

Sergio Perex joined Formula 1 in 2011 and joined RB in 2021. He has won six races. He is often called the ‘Minister of Defense’ and is considered a national hero in Mexico.

Scuderia Ferrari is the oldest and most iconic team on the grid. The team principal is Fred Vasseur and their two drivers are Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. This team uses a Ferrari power unit.

Charles Leclerc joined Formula 1 in 2018 and joined Ferrari in 2019. He has won five races with 32 podium finishes. He is also referred as ‘Lord Perceval’ derived from his full name. He is from Monaco.

Carlos Sainz joined Formula 1 in 2015 and joined Ferrari in 2021. He is the only non Red Bull driver to win a race in the past two F1 seasons. He is from Spain and is nicknamed ‘Smooth Operator’ derived from the song of the same name and reps a chili as part of his brand.

McLaren. The team principal is Zak Brown with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri as this year’s drivers. This team uses a Mercedes power unit.

Lando Norris is 14 time podium finisher and joined Formula 1 with McLaren in 2019. He has started his own gaming and lifestyle brand with his friends called Quadrant. He is from the United Kingdom.

Oscar Piastri joined Formula 1 with McLaren in 2023. He is from Australia and one of the newest drivers on the grid. He previously won a sprint race in the 2023 season.

Mercedes is another iconic team on the grid. They had been dominating F1 for the last decade until Red Bull began to dominate. Their team principal is Toto Wolff and their drivers are Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. The team uses a Mercedes power unit.

Lewis Hamilton is a seven time world champion and joined Formula 1 in 2007. He joined Mercedes in 2013 winning six World Championships with them. He is set to join Ferrari in 2025. He is from the United Kingdom. He is also referred to as ‘Billion Dollar Man’ or ‘The Hammer’.

George Russell is also from the United Kingdom. He has had one race win with 11 podiums. He joined Mercedes in 2022.

Aston Martin is one of the newest teams on the grid. Their team principal is Mike Krack with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll as their drivers. They also use a Mercedes power unit.

Fernando Alonso is the oldest driver on the grid. He has two world championships with 32 race wins. He is from Spain and joined Formula 1 in 2001 and Aston Martin in 2023.

Lance Stroll joined Formula 1 in 2017 and has been driving for teams that his father owns, such as Aston Martin. He is from Canada and has three podium finishes.

RB Honda RBPT is the feeder team to Red Bull Racing. Their team principal is Laurent Mekies and their drivers are Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo. They use the same power unit as Red Bull, Honda RBPT.

Yuki Tsunoda joined Formula 1 in 2021 with this team, formerly called AlphaTauri. He is from Japan.

Daniel Ricciardo joined Formula 1 in 2011 and joined RB in 2024. He is often referred to as ‘Danny Ric’ or ‘The Honey Badger’ and is a fan favorite. He has eight race wins with 32 podiums and is from Australia.

Haas is the one American team on the grid. Their team principal is Ayao Komatsu with Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen as the drivers. The team uses a Ferrari power unit.

Nico Hulkenberg joined Formula 1 in 2010 and joined Haas in 2023. He is from Germany and is often called ‘The Hulk’ based on his name and performance on track.

Kevin Magnussen joined Formula 1 2014 and joined Haas in 2017. He is from Denmark and he has one podium finish.

Williams Racing is an older team on the grid with a rich history. Their team principal is James Vowles with Alexander Albon and Logan Sargeant as their drivers. They also use a Mercedes power unit.

Alexander Albon joined Formula 1 in 2019 with Williams. He has two podiums and is often called ‘Albono’. He is from the UK and Thailand but races under the Thai flag.

Logan Sargeant joined Formula 1 in 2023 with Williams. He is from the United States.

Kick Sauber is one of the newest teams on the grid. The team does not a team principal but Alessando Alunni Bravi is team representative with Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu as drivers. They use a Ferrari power unit.

Valtteri Bottas joined Kick Sauber in 2022 after having left Mercedes. He joined F1 in 2013 with Williams Racing. He has 67 podiums and 10 wins. He in from Finland.

Zhou Guanyu is from China and he joined Formula 1 in 2022 with Kick Sauber. He is one of the mysterious ones on the grid having known not much of his time off the track.

Alpine. Their team principal is Bruno Famin with Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon as drivers. This team uses a Renault power unit.

Pierre Gasly joined Formula 1 in 2017 and joined Alpine in 2023. He has four podiums and one race win and is from France.

Esteban Ocon is from France and joined Formula 1 in 2016 and joined Alpine in 2020. He has three podiums and one race win.

I hope that this ultimate guide has offered an insightful entry to watching F1, something I wish I had when I began watching. There will be more pieces addressing even more pieces of F1 to come!