With the start of this year’s F1 right around the corner, the question on many fan’s minds is what is this season going to look like?
Formula One is an international motorsport competition that is held every weekend from March to December. F1 has ten teams and two drivers per team plus extra reserve drivers. There are 3 types of races: Grand Prix or GP, Sprint and Qualifying. Qualifying has three rounds to determine driver order on the grid before the culminating Grand Prix on Sunday. Sprint races are scattered throughout the season and are like Grand Prix’s except they have less laps making it a “sprint” to the chequered flag.
Compared to last year, this season’s driver lineup is missing Valtteri Bottas, Zhou Guanyu, Kevin Magnussen, Sergio Peréz and Logan Sargeant. Sergeant was let off mid season last year, Bottas and Zhou are reserve drivers for Mercedes and Ferrari and Magnussen has switched over to sports car racing.
Some new drivers joining the grid are Kimi Antonelli, Jack Doohan, Oliver Bearman, Gabriel Bortoleto, Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar.
This season will begin in Australia for the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne before heading to the second race, and first sprint race of the season, in Shanghai, China. This season will have 24 Grand Prix weekends from March to December including six sprint races.
This season will also include new regulations. The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile colloquially known as the FIA, is the international organization that implements rules and regulations for Formula 1 racing. This season they will no longer award a point to the driver with the fastest lap because drivers pushing to get the extra point late into the race have taken away points from drivers with the fastest lap for the majority of the race making it unfair. All other point rules will remain unchanged.
Another new regulation is about driver cooling systems. If before a race the air temperature is predicted to be higher than 31°C, a heat hazard will be declared — meaning that teams must fit a mandated driver cooling system. This will be most beneficial for the Qatar Grand Prix and other hot climate Grand Prix’s.
The last most important change to regulations is the inclusion of more running for rookie drivers. Teams are required to run rookies who have completed no more than two F1 races. This is to try and give rookies more track time and experience before races and level the playing field.
The first race will begin on Sunday, March 23, at midnight EST.
