explaining f1: drs

little warning on this one, i am not an engineer or physicist or anything professionally related to f1, so this is my completely novice explanation based on my own research. it’s not supposed to be super technical, but if anything is way off please let me know!

drag reduction system

f1 cars pump out huge plumes of disturbed air in their wake, making it inherently difficult for driver behind to get into a position to make a pass.

introduced in 2011 as a way to increase overtaking, drs is a device fixed to the upper element of the rear wing of the car. usage has varied, but the current regulations allow drivers to activate the system in designated zones during the race.

when in these zones, drivers can lift the rear wing flap to reduce drag, increasing their top speed.

usage

drs can only be activated if a driver follows a rival through the preceding detection zone with a margin of less than one second.

drivers can activate drs one lap after the race begins. during yellow flags, a virtual safety car or a full safety car, use of the system is prohibited (read more about safety cars here), as well as in red flags.

drs is activated by pressing a button on the steering wheel, but this is only possible when the driver breaks a detection zone within one second of the previous car.

there is no limit on how often drivers can use this, soap long as they have met the requirements, they could use it in every zone of every lap.

on average, drs increases the top speed of the car by about 6 or 7 mph.

particularly in the midfield, a common phenomenon in races is what is known as a 'drs train'. this is a sequence of cars all within drs range of one another, which effectively negates the advantages of the system and can hinder overtaking.

Can everyone go tell F1 how incredibly stupid this is?

i hope fic authors who put songs that inspired the fic in the notes know that i am immediately adding those songs to that ship's playlist

Time to wake up at an ungodly hour just to watch two hours of men driving around in circles and to listen to the Dutch national anthem

there's f1 drama?????

asking if there’s f1 drama is like asking if there’s a supernatural gif for everything.

scooters in, almost falls over, refuses to elaborate, scooters away

Max apologizes to Charles for the turn 1 incident at 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix

Look I’ve watched the BTS footage a 100 times already. The thing is Oscar didn’t have to pop in. And Lando most certainly didn’t have to keep the conversation going. But he did. And Lando did. And it was all soft and warm and “I want to know the most mundane details about this exact thing that I’ve done for 6 years already but did you have fun Oscar?? Did you? Have fun? Osc? Nice smoothie osc. Gonna copy your cute lil pose osc”.

Everything I’ve learned about Lando in the last few weeks is that he just wants friends? He keeps talking about how he missed out on the uni experience and how his friends are all through racing. And it explains why he’s kept Max on at Quadrant and all that side of it. (Not saying he’s buying Max’s friendship or anything) And he kept being friends with his teammates thinking they were safe but Carlos left and Daniel was fired. Which is the nature of the sport don’t get me wrong that’s fine. But I think Lando is really comfortable because Oscar is here to stay for a while. So Lando has Oscar.

And Oscar has always been better than the rest at this sport so it was hard to make friends with the other boys because he kept moving a step forward, quicker than everyone else. His Prema vids are sweet but there’s a sense that everyone in them is still trying to make it. Plus Oscar has 3 younger sisters but he’s never had a brother and he’s a little quiet and Lando was okay bulldozing his way into Oscar’s heart so now Oscar has Lando.

They both love their families but the sport makes it so they feel distant from them? Yes Adam is at almost every race and Oscar has a very loving relationship with his mom but all they’ve known is this sport forever. This sport where there’s no loyalty and no love and a lot friendships are actually just colleagues hanging out in a work setting.

That’s what makes Carlando so endearing. It’s that the friendship persisted beyond the contract mandated hangouts. That’s what makes Landoscar so special. They’ve found each other, a support system, a person who actually understands every nuance of the car, every corner that they race, every debrief in a way that really only their teammate can.

They are each other’s competition but they’re also each other’s comfort and I think that’s really special. Plus, Oscar’s quite tall isn’t he 😏

explaining f1: tyres 🛞

first post in this series (will it be a series? we’ll see)

recently i think we’ve had some particularly interesting races in terms of tyre strategy and i readied in suzuka that i don’t totally understand it all, so this has been my little research project on tyres!

pirelli

pirelli are an italian tyre manufacturer who have been supplying f1 tyres since 2011. unlike some eras of f1, pirelli is currently the exclusive supplier in the sport.

in 2022, pirelli introduced a new 18-inch (the previous being 13-inch) tyre as part of sweeping changes to the technical regulations of the sport.

compounds

pirelli’s range is currently comprised of six ‘slick’ compounds (referred to as slick because they lack the grooves of normal road tyres - this is because these grooves exist to dispel water, something necessary for road tyres but that slows down an f1 car when not necessary) tyres, along with ‘intermediates’ and full ‘wets’ to account for weather conditions.

the six slick compounds (from hardest to softest) are referred to as follows: c0, c1, c2, c3, c4 and c5. from this range, pirelli pick three to be used at each grand prix, based on the track characteristics and climate.

the highest of the set is marked red and is known as the soft, the middle marked yellow and know as the medium, with the lowest marked white and known as the hard (intermediates are green and wets are blue).

theoretically, the softs have more grip over short periods of time, making them faster and better for qualifying runs. generally, the hard and medium compounds are more favourable on race day because they last longer.

rules

on most weekends, drivers are given 13 sets of slicks, 4 intermediates and 3 wets, with a set of softs reserved for drivers who reach q3 (the final round of qualifying). all drivers must return 2 sets after each of the 3 practise sessions, meaning only 7 sets are left for qualifying and the race. drivers must also use at least two different slick compounds during the race (provided the weather is dry).

on sprint weekends, the number of dry sets are reduced to 12. after the sprint, drivers must return the set they completed the most laps on.

tyre allocation is on a per-driver basis, teammates cannot share or swap tyres. in bahrain in 2020, mercedes mistakenly put bottas’ tyres on russell’s car when attempting a double stack. the team was fined €20,000 for this.

drivers must run the same compound on all four wheels at all times.

strategy

tyre plan for the weekend is the decision of the team, generally based on information from pirelli, observed degradation over practise, the circuit and the weather forecast.

if rain is expected, teams can draw from their wet weather allocation, and so they don’t need to be as cautious with their dry weather tyres. if it’s hot, teams have to make sure they can cover plenty of tyre changes.

if track layout means overtaking is tough, teams may want a higher number of pitstops to stop drivers getting stuck behind rivals. also, if the track is walled (and so safety cars are more likely) teams may plan for more stops.

terminology

scrubbed: teams often ‘scrub in’ a set of tyres by running them briefly during practise, this means that when they are later used in the race, they warm up much faster than brand new tyres.

blistering: when the inner part of tyre heats more than the outer, creating minor explosions which damage the surface of the tyre.

graining: when the outer surface is hotter than the inside of the tyre, leading to the outside rubber flexing, breaking and sticking to the tyre.

flat spot: a patch where the surface of the tyre looses its curve. this is usually caused by a driving locking up by breaking too late, meaning the tyre scrapes along the ground.

deg or degradation: refers to a steady loss of tyre performance due to general wear.

One thing about Max Verstappen he will always jump to his besties’ defence

In their own words

-> Quotes aren’t strictly in chronological order

-> All those people in those old photographs I've seen are dead, and in the end, I'd do it all again, I think you're my best friend. - Fall Out Boy

happy "breaching the top 10 f1 rpf pairings on ao3" day to landoscar nation 🎂 because it's all about.... two people that are so much the same yet so different. australia vs the uk. oscar's cool collected calm versus lando's ricocheting personality. twitch streams and side hustles and multiple endeavors vs singlemindedness of racing. purity of craft vs embracing everything life throws at you and trusting that it'll all work out. the rivalry that isn't (well it is, but not really). pushing each other to be better. making heart eyes in a taylor swift video, reaching out to your teammate in silverstone after surviving a media maelstrom and him being pleased and stepping closer because he's been given permission to. making fun of your resident weeb for reading the words "kit kat" but just in a japanese accent.

it's being so ridiculously competitive that you'll hide in a burning bin in the name of fun for a game with made up points and then squinting at your teammate ringed with the bright light of the sun and laughing at how stupid this all is. it's making fun of your teammate's music taste that you can hear through the thin walls of the drivers' rooms. trusting the journey. mimicking each other's body language. knowing it's for the marketing but winking at the camera together anyway, like we're all invited to be in on the joke. two parallel lives woven in two different garages with almost identical specs. being so comfortable you have this weird rapport that is kind of a cipher and unknowable to anyone outside of the immediate network or team, but it's so assured and quiet that for the first time the person who's been the person who was once the younger teammate steps up, acts older now, and becomes comfortable with the silence.

it's knowing your best friend was on their renault team and not saying anything about it in public but the motorsport world is so small and specific and the experience so surreal that surely some laylines are just strangely predestined. it's about growing up together. it's watching the brit upstart in a generation of two other brit upstarts chase his dream and give up everything to win and get velcroed to the seat because he's kind of small, just like you, but you dream bigger than anyone dares to dream and you identify with the other's self belief that says you, too, could stand on that top step one day. it's you following the little blue-suited guy racer on social media and liking sooo many of his posts over the years, and not even bothering to hide that fact when you've probably become that goalpost for someone else one day, too.

it's chapter 2, with 3 more to go. it's watching your teammate win his first sprint race and finding it in yourself to be happy for him even when you're sad that it wasn't you. it's publicly saying that the rookie is not a threat, he's a threat who makes you race better. it's making fun of newbie's first day at mclaren and finding him unknowable. and he arrives with all this hype and pressure so what can you do but focus on you and step up your game, but he's always in the background and the periphery, chasing and chasing with this hunger that is unbelievable and unfamiliar because it's always humming in a way that made you mistake stillness for idleness in the past. but now, you know: still waters run deep, so you swim harder, too. drop the dj-ing. become more disciplined. train more. do things that don't matter, less.

because the future is vast. the future is happening constantly if you're ready to meet it. and maybe destiny will be kind, and your names will be remembered. your name, inked on a trophy in the precious metal of kings, and dreamers. your name, inked in gold.

but today, you're 22. you're 24.

you're driving a car as fast as you can, and everything that's possible, feels like it could be possible, right now.

genuine question what is the ao3 user to f1 pipeline because i swear to god in this past month??? i have seen several people convert and i don't understand what f1 is and i'm too afraid to ask

i was thrown head first into this about a month and a half ago by my sister so idk how anyone else converted but i have theories as to why we like it

f1 is cars go fast around track. vroom fucking vroom. extreme edition.

here’s why it’s appealing to fandom people:

-only 20 people in the whole f1 sport, they all race at the same time, easier to keep track of than football or soccer or anything with 583739297 million people

-most of the drivers are either himbos or need a redemption arc

-there’s an absolute fuckton of drama. like no other. rivals upon rivals. enemies to lovers to enemies to worse enemies kinda type beat. since there’s only 20 of them there’s always talk and speculation as to who’s going to what team, who’s getting cut, who’s signing the most insane contract, all that stuff

-the drivers really play up their bromances.

-did i mention the drama?

-these dudes would absolutely kill eachother on the track but off of it most of them are absolute besties (or they’re not and that’s more drama)

-again. drama.

Hovering.

I think the "Charles are washed, Carlos will fight for the WDC" arguments that I see here and on twitter are indicative of a wider crisis that's happening in general media AND scientific literacy right now which is that people want to take easy facts at face value, and refuse to listen to or understand the context behind it.

Charles is not washed and Carlos will not fight for the WDC. These two facts are pretty clear, but to understand they require a person to go beyond the Instagram graphic of a race win and actually examine the contexts in which Carlos won, and the wider separate contexts of Charles and Carlos's recent careers. Carlos is less consistent that Charles on all fronts, and the reason why Charles is not a WDC yet has nothing to do with his mindset nor a lack of talent, but rather a complete mismanagement masterclass by Mattia Binotto who was Ferrari team principal for four years of Charles's career, and whose influence was still felt in Ferrari until the end of last year and will continue until Carlos leaves at the end of this year. These are not "excuses", these are vital data to take into account when trying to predict an outcome. I have a STEM background, and the first thing that is drilled into you for all laboratory experiments is to always provide environmental context for your set-up, as anything not accounted for will skew your results. A pretty famous one in physics is scientists supposedly measuring faster than light travel (which is impossible via our current understanding of physics), going on to publish and record their findings, before finding out that a loose cable accounted for the time deficit and their measurements returned to being slower than light once the cable was fixed. Similar principle applies to the Ferrari F1 team at the moment, Carlos only appears faster than Charles if you don't consider all factors that could produce a result like this. Once you do, it becomes clear that a lot of the sensationalism surrounding Carlos at the moment is simply untrue.

Context is vital, ESPECIALLY in a sport like F1 where team management, engineering, and the interplay of both with a driver are absolutely crucial factors to success and its a real problem that current F1 journalism (cough cough Sky Sports) more often than not refuses to provide it, in most cases seemingly because they can't be bothered and it makes their jobs and lives easier to run a sensationalist headline that people will spend less time trying to dissect and understand.

thank you to the f1 admin coming in clutch and releasing this while i can’t sleep 🙏🏻