Time for my glorious once a year post about F1
Australia starts this week as 6 new full-time drivers take the grid....
Race Week is upon us so here is an update to my post from last 4 years.
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Quick Tutorial for Race Weekend (for those new to F1) - Non-Sprint WeekendFriday (Day 1)- Free Practice 1 and Free Practice 2 - This is a time for teams to test out the cars and all associated operations, and give the driver's time to reacquaint with and get used to the race track and practice doing "hot laps" or full-speed laps. Fastest lap times are recorded and noted for the drivers for each session.
Saturday (Day 2)- Free Practice 3 - Final tuneup for the drivers to prepare for qualifying and note any remaining issues with the car. Fastest lap times are recorded and noted for the drivers for each session.
- Note: FP sessions last 60 minutes.
- Qualifying - There are three rounds of qualifying (Q1, Q2, Q3) to determine the starting order for the race on Sunday.
Q1 - (18 minutes) All 20 drivers attempt to post their fastest hot lap. Top 15 drivers advance to Q2. Bottom 5 drivers are then slotted 16-20 for the race based on fastest lap times in Q1 session.
Q2 - (15 minutes) Top 15 remaining drivers again try to post fastest hot lap. Top 10 drivers advance to Q3. Remaining 5 drivers are then slotted 11-15 for the race based on fastest lap times in Q2 session.
Q3 - (12 minutes) Top 10 remaining drivers slotted 1-10 based on fastest lap times in Q3 session. "Pole position" awarded to fastest lap time posted in Q3 session.
Note: Drivers can attempt as many times as they are able within the time slot to record a fastest lap.
Sunday (Day 3)Race - Drivers line up on starting grid based on qualifying results (and penalty times if assessed). Drivers perform a warm-up or "formation" lap to get into position. Lights out and race is underway!
- Points are awarded only to the Top 10 finishers in the race. Points count toward both driver's and constructor's championships. The fastest driver lap time point has been removed for 2025.
- Points awarded are 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 for Top 10 finishers.
- Fastest lap time and fastest track sector times are noted during the race.
Note: Some non-sprint weekend races may deviate from Fri-Sun format for various reasons.
----------------------------Sprint Weekend Race Rules 2025 (6 Sprint Races in 2025)----------------------------Friday - FP1 and Sprint Qualifying take place- Sprint Qualifying (SQ) session determines order of Sprint Race on Saturday.
- Three rounds: SQ1 - 12 minutes, SQ2 - 10 minutes, SQ3 - 8 minutes
Saturday - Sprint Race and Race Qualifying
- Sprint Race is roughly 1/3 length of full race, therefore drivers should not have to pit.
- Points are given for top 8 places (8 to 1).
(Note: If anyone knows of other rule changes that affect this, please provide)