The large amount of jargon is a result of the complex engineering that goes into building a Formula 1 car. Teams use a wide depth of knowledge to extract as much performance as possible over a race weekend, which has resulted in expansive terminology.
F1 has taken steps in recent years to try and make things easier for fans, such as simplifying the names of the tyre compounds provided by Pirelli. Tyre suppliers have changed several times over the years with Pirelli taking over from Bridgestone in 2009. In 2018, the Italian supplier had a ‘rainbow’ range of tyres which included the superhard, supersoft, ultrasoft and hypersoft compounds until they were asked to simplify their range in 2019 by the FIA.
Pirelli F1 boss Mario Isola said: “With three colours, the same colours and same names for all the races, but obviously different compounds, because you cannot use the same compounds in Silverstone or Monaco. On a second level we will have compound A, B, C, D, E, F or whatever, and we will tell you that for this race, the hard is B, the medium is D, and whatever.”
Even so there are still plenty of expressions that can confuse casual viewers, and in the worst cases put them off watching altogether. Here is a glossary of common phrases that can bring you up to speed with F1’s technical terms.
There are ten different flags available during a Formula 1 race to convey a variety of messages to drivers. The black and white flags are shown to a driver for unsportsmanlike behaviour and acts as a warning. If the issue persists then a black flag can be shown to the driver, along with their number, to indicate they have been disqualified from the race and must return to the pits immediately.
Blue flags are shown to drivers who are about to be lapped. After being shown a blue flag, drivers must get out of the way of faster cars at the earliest opportunity, or face a time penalty for not responding quickly enough. Blue flags are used to prevent the lead cars being held and interfering with the result of the race.
Each tyre compound used in F1 has a temperature window in which it works best and delivers the most grip, so if a driver can't get the tyres up into this window, they're said to be too cold.
Cold tyres are to F1 cars what Kryptonite is to Superman: when tyres are cold, they can't produce anywhere enough adhesion to deal with the speeds and cornering forces typical in the sport. It's why you see drivers weaving around on formation laps; to increase the amount of heat in the tyres prior to the start of the race.
Dirty air is the opposite of clean air, which a car runs in when there's nothing ahead of it.
The faster an F1 car goes, the more turbulent the aerodynamic wake it leaves behind it. Following in a car's dirty air is tricky for two reasons: firstly the unsettled air can reduce downforce, which means drivers have to corner more slowly. Secondly, it can cause tyres and brakes to overheat, forcing drivers to back off. Dirty air is one of the main reasons why overtaking is so hard at some F1 circuits.
New regulations were introduced by the FIA in 2022 to encourage teams to build cars that produce less dirty air by the reintroduction of ground-effects. The change was hoped to make it easier for cars to follow behind others and encourage overtaking, but in 2024 more drivers are reporting increasing issues with dirty air.
Encouraging overtaking will be looked at for the 2026 regulations, which are still being debated. Dirty air is the opposite of clean air, which a car runs in when there's nothing ahead of it.
DRS is short for Drag Reduction System, which is a movable flap on the rear wing of an F1 car. Opening the flap reduces aerodynamic drag, making it easier for a car to accelerate and increasing its top speed.
DRS is an overtaking aid, that can only use in designated DRS zones that are set before the start of a race weekend. Some tracks only have one DRS zone - such as the Japanese, Emilia Romagna and Monaco circuits - but there are other tracks on the 2024 calendar with up to three DRS zones.
The DRS can only be used once a driver has closed to within a second of the car ahead at a specified 'detection point' on the circuit.
The DRS was introduced in 2011 to make overtaking easier, and while some see it as an essential weapon in a driver's arsenal, others believe it makes racing artificial. In 2024 a new regulation change was introduced which allowed DRS to be used after just one lap, instead of two.
The pit window is one of F1's stranger terms, as it involves a certain amount of guesswork about when a driver will make a pit stop based on the expected lifespan of the tyre compound on the car. Pirelli usually estimates how far it thinks its tyres can go, and teams factor this information into their qualifying and race strategies. Meanwhile, broadcasters can use the information to predict when a driver will stop. So when the pit window is 'open' it means a driver is expected to make a pit stop soon, although it doesn't account for how good a driver is as looking after the tyres or various other factors.
Porpoising is when an F1 car bounces up and down on the straights. It's caused by the ground effect aerodynamics pulling the car down to the ground, but as the car gets closer to the ground the airflow stalls, which forces the car up. When the car goes up the airflow then goes back underneath it, pulling the car down again, and the loop continues.
When a driver is told to 'box, box', they're being instructed to make a pitstop. This is because 'box' sounds more distinct than 'pit' over the team radio, so there's less chance of confusion leading to an error. The word itself refers to the painted box outside a team's garage where pit stops take place, although some argue that it hails from 'boxenstopp', which is German for 'pit stop'.
Blistering can happen when a tyre gets too hot. This can cause the rubber to soften and break apart more easily, leading to a loss of grip and performance. Blistering can affect the whole surface area of a tyre, or sometimes just a thin strip that looks like an unbroken line when seen from the on-board camera.
Drivers want to avoid blistering because it lowers the amount of grip a tyre can produce, and once a blister appears it can be almost impossible to get rid of. That in turn means that drivers have to slow down even more to avoid making the blisters worse. In the past, blisters have led to complete tyre failures, which are particularly dangerous at high speed.
F1 cars have a brake on each wheel, but drivers can choose how much braking force is applied to the fronts and rears depending on the needs of any given corner. They do this by operating the controls on their steering wheel, often making several adjustments per lap. It's usually referred to in terms of moving the brake balance (or bias) forwards or backwards.
Perfecting the brake balance is key to getting an F1 car to slow down and corner. If you apply too much bias to the front the car will struggle to turn, but adding too much to the rear could result in a spin. Drivers have to manage this challenge throughout each race, making adjustments for changing levels of grip and the reduced weight of the car as it burns off fuel.
Double stacking is when a team pits both of its cars on the same lap, with one following the other into the pit lane. Ideally the second car will be far enough behind that it pulls into the pit box just as the first car is leaving, and each pit crew is heavily drilled for such a scenario.
Teams usually double stack their cars in response to a safety car, although there are other situations that cause them. Double stacking is notoriously tricky: a botched double stack cost Mercedes victory at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix after a late call confused the team's pit crew.
Downforce is the aerodynamic effect that pushes F1 cars towards the ground when they move forwards. The higher a car's downforce, the more grip it will have in corners, the more traction it will have and the easier it will be to generate heat in the tyres. The key to a fast F1 car is to create downforce without also developing drag, which is the aerodynamic resistance acting against the forward momentum of the car.
The amount of downforce a car needs depends on the track, with some tracks favouring higher-downforce setups and others favouring power.
A DRS train is when cars become locked in a row behind a lead driver. This is because the group of drivers within the one-second DRS range of the driver ahead of them are unable to make any progression on the cars ahead of them due to the car in front also having DRS, resulting in a train of cars.
This will usually result in teams adjusting their strategy, for instance trying an undercut to get a driver out into clean air.
Source: Autosport