F101 - The Basics of F1 - Episode Detail

Please note that the summary is generated based on the transcript and may not capture all the nuances or details discussed in the podcast episode.

Raw Transcript with Timestamps

[00:00.000 -> 00:13.280] Hello and welcome back to another episode with Fan Fiction. We are now F1 Fan Fiction
[00:13.280 -> 00:19.320] if you are looking for our website. In this episode we are going to talk about the basics
[00:19.320 -> 00:25.340] of F1, like F101, let's call it that. And we'll walk you through what F1 is
[00:25.340 -> 00:29.160] and all the nuances so that you can follow us
[00:29.160 -> 00:32.080] on the coming episodes without any hassles
[00:32.080 -> 00:34.120] and wondering what's going on.
[00:34.120 -> 00:35.200] We are your hosts.
[00:35.200 -> 00:36.240] I am Akash.
[00:36.240 -> 00:37.080] And I'm Sarang.
[00:37.080 -> 00:40.100] And we'll walk you through F101.
[00:40.100 -> 00:43.240] Before we begin, let's talk about interactions.
[00:43.240 -> 00:47.520] We are now live with our website website f1fanfiction.com.
[00:48.240 -> 00:54.480] Head over there to check out more details about the race weekends and a blog post that started
[00:54.480 -> 00:59.600] which talks about our ratings and rankings for the drivers. We don't talk about it during the
[00:59.600 -> 01:04.560] episode so if you want to check us out, come over to our website. It's f1fanfiction.com.
[01:04.560 -> 01:05.520] And leave a comment.
[01:05.520 -> 01:12.080] Yeah. Speaking of which, you can contact us at contactusatthereightf1fanfiction.com.
[01:12.080 -> 01:17.520] Drop us an email, comment and do all the things that you would like to tell us.
[01:17.520 -> 01:21.600] Give us feedback on what you'd like to see in future episodes and whatnot.
[01:21.600 -> 01:22.960] And a little sneak peek.
[01:22.960 -> 01:26.360] We are planning to do a show on controversies in F1.
[01:26.360 -> 01:29.280] So let us know what you want us to cover in that.
[01:29.280 -> 01:31.160] That one's gonna be an interesting one
[01:31.160 -> 01:32.680] because I think Sarang,
[01:32.680 -> 01:34.680] A, it's gonna be definitely a rant.
[01:36.680 -> 01:40.240] And B, yeah, F1 is no doubt a very political
[01:40.240 -> 01:41.520] and a controversial sport.
[01:41.520 -> 01:44.560] So I'm really looking forward to recording that.
[01:45.000 -> 01:54.000] All right, let's get started into the episode. Sarang, do you want to talk a bit about what is F1, the drivers, the teams and as such?
[01:54.000 -> 02:06.040] Well, what is F1? Cars go room in a circle, essentially. Yeah, but on a more serious note, it's basically 10 teams which participate in the sport.
[02:06.040 -> 02:11.520] Each team puts in two entries, two cars into the races, and each team has two drivers who
[02:11.520 -> 02:13.160] is driving these cars.
[02:13.160 -> 02:20.040] So basically you have 20 drivers just battling it out on the track to win that grand prize,
[02:20.040 -> 02:21.040] the prize money.
[02:21.040 -> 02:22.040] Right.
[02:22.040 -> 02:25.880] And there is also this concept of having reserve drivers or backup drivers to write like if
[02:25.880 -> 02:27.760] something goes wrong.
[02:27.760 -> 02:32.540] These essentially are multimillion dollar companies and they are running these businesses
[02:32.540 -> 02:38.380] and they cannot afford to, you know, even miss a single race because that changes things
[02:38.380 -> 02:42.360] in the constructors, the constructors championship.
[02:42.360 -> 02:47.080] So the teams generally have like many more different roles
[02:47.080 -> 02:50.200] available like reserve drivers, development drivers,
[02:50.200 -> 02:54.160] simulation drivers, who kind of help the team
[02:54.160 -> 02:58.760] in improving the car, giving feedback about the car dynamics,
[02:58.760 -> 03:00.440] how it is handling and things like that.
[03:00.440 -> 03:01.800] Right.
[03:01.800 -> 03:03.720] And then in terms of races, I think,
[03:03.720 -> 03:06.120] depending on the season that's happening,
[03:06.120 -> 03:12.400] it's roughly 20 to 23 races, which is also a lot because it happens either every alternate
[03:12.400 -> 03:17.200] weekend or back-to-back weekends, or now that there are too many races, there's a triple
[03:17.200 -> 03:21.480] header, as you might hear, which is just three race weekends back-to-back.
[03:21.480 -> 03:28.420] Oh, yeah. Triple headers are something to look out for. They're just too much fun.
[03:28.420 -> 03:30.360] But people who work for F1
[03:30.360 -> 03:32.820] are not huge fans of these triple headers
[03:32.820 -> 03:36.200] because essentially they are traveling
[03:36.200 -> 03:39.480] continuously for three weeks and it's really hard on them.
[03:39.480 -> 03:41.560] They are away from their families.
[03:41.560 -> 03:44.640] They are living in these motor homes
[03:44.640 -> 03:47.280] and usually these tracks are away
[03:47.280 -> 03:53.040] from the city and they don't always have the best conditions out there.
[03:53.040 -> 03:57.840] Though these triple headers are generally rare because they try to form the calendar
[03:57.840 -> 04:04.960] such that they don't have to move around different countries as much and the races are close
[04:04.960 -> 04:09.980] to each other one after another. Yeah it's definitely a logistical nightmare.
[04:09.980 -> 04:14.520] We're not gonna get into any details of that but there is there is a very
[04:14.520 -> 04:19.100] interesting episode on YouTube I forget the channel's name but to Wandover or
[04:19.100 -> 04:28.640] something like that and they've got an interesting episode, go check it out. Speaking of races and drivers and teams,
[04:28.640 -> 04:35.680] there is also this concept of indicating drivers on what and how to behave on the racetrack by the
[04:35.680 -> 04:42.720] means of flags. There are essentially four or five flags which are of utmost importance because you
[04:42.720 -> 04:46.320] will see that way more often than the other
[04:46.320 -> 04:47.320] flags.
[04:47.320 -> 04:50.960] The first one you're going to see obviously is the green flag, which indicates the race
[04:50.960 -> 04:55.200] is either restarting or is starting to begin with.
[04:55.200 -> 04:58.080] The other one you're going to see very often is the yellow flag.
[04:58.080 -> 05:08.040] And this is very, very crucial because depending on how this flag is raised, you can either have like a safety car or a
[05:08.040 -> 05:12.720] virtual safety car and we'll talk about this later in the episode.
[05:12.720 -> 05:17.860] But the yellow flag is definitely a point of controversy because if you miss it, it
[05:17.860 -> 05:21.840] can lead to, you know, losing points or places or x, y, z.
[05:21.840 -> 05:27.760] Yeah, and with the growing importance of safety these days, FI doesn't take the yellow flag lightly at all.
[05:27.760 -> 05:28.600] Yes.
[05:28.600 -> 05:30.880] They are pretty serious about it.
[05:30.880 -> 05:35.280] And you saw what happened during a qualification with Vettel
[05:35.280 -> 05:38.400] now where he saw the yellow flag, he slowed down,
[05:38.400 -> 05:39.960] but he didn't abandon his lap.
[05:39.960 -> 05:42.640] And that, FI was not happy with that.
[05:42.640 -> 05:45.440] And they gave him a five place grid penalty for that.
[05:45.440 -> 05:46.940] Actually, you know what, while we are at it,
[05:46.940 -> 05:49.120] let's just discuss the entire yellow flag
[05:49.120 -> 05:51.520] and the scenarios rather than coming back to it.
[05:51.520 -> 05:54.640] In terms of what a yellow flag can do,
[05:54.640 -> 05:58.880] yes, you're right, like, if it's a virtual safety zone,
[05:58.880 -> 06:01.240] which is that an actual safety car
[06:01.240 -> 06:03.040] has not come out on the track,
[06:03.040 -> 06:05.040] but it's a cautionary yellow flag that the drivers have to assume that there is a safety car has not come out on the track, but it's a cautionary yellow flag that
[06:05.040 -> 06:10.800] the drivers have to assume that there is a safety car on the track and behave accordingly.
[06:11.760 -> 06:18.560] Where essentially what the drivers have to do is they have to maintain a gap. That situation is
[06:18.560 -> 06:27.680] called in quotes VSC, so that's a virtual safety car. And what the drivers are expected to do is maintain a particular gap with the car in
[06:27.680 -> 06:28.680] front.
[06:28.680 -> 06:31.400] So they can't go way fast or way too slow.
[06:31.400 -> 06:37.700] And they have to maintain that delta is what you'll hear on the radio.
[06:37.700 -> 06:42.600] And depending on the situation, as Asarang mentioned earlier, if it's during qualifying,
[06:42.600 -> 06:45.580] you are supposed to abandon your lap, even if you are doing
[06:45.580 -> 06:50.240] excellent at P1, for whatever reasons, you are supposed to abandon your lap.
[06:50.240 -> 06:54.460] And if you don't, you see what happens with five place grid penalties.
[06:54.460 -> 06:58.240] And we'll discuss other penalties and stuff later, too.
[06:58.240 -> 07:03.600] But what also happens on the other side is if the yellow flag is raised because of severe
[07:03.600 -> 07:07.400] conditions, then an actual car comes
[07:07.400 -> 07:13.680] onto the track. It's somewhat like an Aston Martin DB9 or, you know, think of a fancy
[07:13.680 -> 07:19.560] fast car. It's going to be on the track, driving all the way on the front. And again, like
[07:19.560 -> 07:28.880] the VSC, cars have to maintain that delta with the car in front. There are no overtakes allowed during both the VSC and the actual safety car.
[07:29.360 -> 07:33.960] And the race resumes only after the safety car goes back into the pit lane.
[07:34.040 -> 07:39.440] Just because I'm nitpicky, I wanted to correct you and say that it is a Vantage,
[07:39.640 -> 07:43.440] Aston Martin Vantage and the medical car I think is a DBX.
[07:43.480 -> 07:45.100] Yeah. I mean, in my head it's just
[07:45.100 -> 07:54.260] a very fast Aston Martin. Anyways and if things get very severe folks you gonna
[07:54.260 -> 08:01.000] see a red flag which if you've been following F1 last season had as far as I
[08:01.000 -> 08:07.320] can remember like the most number of red flags which indicates indicates the race has stopped and it's going to restart.
[08:07.520 -> 08:10.360] And depending on the severity, it may either start from the pit lane
[08:10.520 -> 08:12.680] or back from the starting grid.
[08:13.280 -> 08:16.640] The worst case scenario that you can think of is going to be a black flag,
[08:16.840 -> 08:21.000] which means the race is abandoned and something really, really terrible is gone.
[08:21.240 -> 08:24.840] Lastly, you're obviously going to see the chequered flag as the race ends.
[08:29.560 -> 08:32.560] Something that we don't see is a white flag, which just indicates that it's the penultimate lap. So yeah, that's the that's fun with flags.
[08:32.560 -> 08:36.480] I'm sure Lewis Hamilton knows about the black and white flag very well.
[08:36.480 -> 08:46.180] Oh, black and white flag. That's, that's like a Nepal sort of flag, right? Like with a diagonal in the middle.
[08:46.180 -> 08:47.400] That one's what?
[08:47.400 -> 08:49.000] Unsportsmanlike behavior?
[08:49.000 -> 08:50.480] Is that right?
[08:50.480 -> 08:52.560] No, so the black and white flag
[08:52.560 -> 08:54.580] essentially is a warning flag.
[08:54.580 -> 08:58.760] So if you had heard the radio during Bahrain GP,
[08:58.760 -> 09:00.720] Bono had come onto the radio,
[09:00.720 -> 09:02.160] who's a Hamilton's engineer,
[09:02.160 -> 09:04.920] and had told him that if you continue
[09:04.920 -> 09:05.520] to exceed
[09:05.520 -> 09:11.040] track limits at turn four, you would be first given a black and white flag and after that
[09:11.040 -> 09:12.040] a five second penalty.
[09:12.040 -> 09:20.240] Yeah, so yeah, unsportsmanlike behavior. Because it's Hamilton, I'm saying that but otherwise,
[09:20.240 -> 09:29.360] yes, you're right. But, but now that we understand the basics of you know what the drivers, the teams, the races
[09:29.360 -> 09:38.240] and the indicators on the track are, I think it's time to sort of understand the format
[09:38.240 -> 09:39.240] of F1.
[09:39.240 -> 09:42.680] Sarang, do you want to start walking us through it?
[09:42.680 -> 09:49.400] So yeah, basically the F1 season has two components to it.
[09:49.400 -> 09:52.640] One is the preseason testing that happens.
[09:52.640 -> 09:54.840] So we had kind of discussed about this previously
[09:54.840 -> 09:57.880] in episode three, where we had discussed in detail
[09:57.880 -> 10:00.760] about the preseason testing of this year, which
[10:00.760 -> 10:04.160] happened at the Bahrain International Circuit.
[10:04.160 -> 10:07.040] And yeah, this essentially is the time
[10:07.040 -> 10:12.080] when these teams are testing out their cars on the track
[10:12.080 -> 10:13.440] pretty much for the first time.
[10:13.440 -> 10:17.840] And they are testing out the innovations,
[10:17.840 -> 10:22.360] how the car behaves, tuning out different things,
[10:22.360 -> 10:27.500] ensuring that they extract the maximum performance out of these cars and preparing for the season.
[10:27.500 -> 10:34.200] Yeah, yeah, yeah. It basically gives them, as you're saying, the exact idea of whatever they've done over the winter break,
[10:34.200 -> 10:42.400] which is also something you'll hear, the winter break in quotes is essentially the gap between the last race and the first pre-season testing,
[10:42.400 -> 10:47.400] where they call it a break, but it's not a break essentially for these engineers.
[10:47.400 -> 10:48.400] Not for them.
[10:48.400 -> 10:53.400] Oh yeah, they're cracking their way through to make the best and the fastest car that they can.
[10:54.200 -> 11:01.400] Now that we've done the pre-testing, you know, we are ready to sort of go ahead and get into the race weekend.
[11:01.400 -> 11:07.200] And in my head, again, I'm just thinking like a layman, which is what, there are three components
[11:07.200 -> 11:08.540] to a race weekend, right?
[11:08.540 -> 11:10.480] Like, what is it the free practice,
[11:10.480 -> 11:12.120] the qualifying and the race?
[11:12.120 -> 11:16.000] Yeah, so essentially what we call it is a race weekend,
[11:16.000 -> 11:16.840] right?
[11:16.840 -> 11:18.640] So it lasts for three days.
[11:18.640 -> 11:21.460] It starts on a Friday, ends on the Sunday.
[11:21.460 -> 11:26.400] The first day on Friday has two sessions of free practice. That's basically the
[11:26.400 -> 11:33.280] time when these teams get to really tune their car, test their car for this particular track,
[11:33.920 -> 11:39.040] make sure that the car is suitable for this track and they can gain the maximum performance
[11:39.040 -> 11:47.800] for this track. And you might think that these drivers are just living near these racetracks
[11:47.800 -> 11:55.700] and just going around in circles around the track to just completely learn the track
[11:55.700 -> 12:01.700] but yeah that's not exactly what happens they don't really get to drive on tracks a lot
[12:01.700 -> 12:05.200] yeah mechanically tuned on what the circles are.
[12:05.200 -> 12:08.200] Yeah and I mean
[12:08.200 -> 12:10.500] the only practice they kind of get
[12:10.500 -> 12:13.600] is what they do on the simulators.
[12:13.600 -> 12:16.400] I mean these simulators are
[12:16.400 -> 12:18.200] the best in the world but
[12:18.200 -> 12:21.000] it's still not the same as actually driving the car.
[12:21.000 -> 12:23.600] So yeah there's a slight difference.
[12:23.600 -> 12:25.740] They need these practice sessions to like really understand the car, how the car behaves So yeah, there's a slight difference. They need these practice sessions
[12:25.740 -> 12:30.640] to like really understand the car, how the car behaves on this track, how to, you know,
[12:30.640 -> 12:36.620] optimize their racing line on the track. Anyways, after two practice sessions on Friday, you
[12:36.620 -> 12:42.540] have another practice session on the first half of the day of Saturday, after which the
[12:42.540 -> 12:46.440] teams kind of pretty much prepare for qualifications.
[12:46.440 -> 12:51.240] And keep me honest here, Sarang, but after the pre-season testing,
[12:51.240 -> 12:56.720] the teams are allowed to make any mechanical and any electrical changes to the car.
[12:56.720 -> 13:00.640] But after the free practice, they aren't allowed to do that.
[13:00.640 -> 13:02.320] I mean, in the sense of they change the engine,
[13:02.320 -> 13:04.920] they're going to get like a big penalty for it on the grid place.
[13:04.920 -> 13:08.640] They're only allowed to, in the sense, if they change the engine, they're going to get like a big penalty for it on the grid place. They're only allowed to, in quotes again, tune the car so that
[13:08.640 -> 13:13.680] its handling increases better for that. Yeah. So that's essentially called Park Firme.
[13:14.640 -> 13:21.600] What it means is that these teams are not allowed to make any changes a couple hours before the
[13:21.600 -> 13:29.200] qualification starts. They are still allowed to make some changes after the third practice session. They can say change certain
[13:29.200 -> 13:35.800] components of the car, not all. But yeah, once the Park4Me applies, there are
[13:35.800 -> 13:40.080] very few things that they can change. Things like tire pressures, front wing
[13:40.080 -> 13:45.160] angles and fuel loads and things like that those are the only things that they
[13:45.160 -> 13:50.040] can pretty much change. Yeah in terms of like a computer science guy basically
[13:50.040 -> 13:56.760] hard code the hard code the car for that track. Yeah exactly one thing which I
[13:56.760 -> 14:01.520] forgot to mention earlier was during these free practice sessions these
[14:01.520 -> 14:10.720] drivers along with their engineers go out on the track for something called as a track walk and what they basically do is they just you
[14:10.720 -> 14:14.600] know actually walk a lap around this track trying to really understand the
[14:14.600 -> 14:20.960] conditions of the track because it's really important for them to really
[14:20.960 -> 14:26.000] understand what temperatures are the tracks, tarmac is at, what's the
[14:26.000 -> 14:29.560] ambient temperature and like what is the actual condition of the roads because
[14:29.560 -> 14:33.480] that affects how the car is going to perform if like the tarmac is hotter
[14:33.480 -> 14:37.240] they're gonna get better grip and they can you know probably go faster through
[14:37.240 -> 14:40.440] corners. Right and then after three practice we have what qualifying three
[14:40.440 -> 14:47.260] sessions. Qualification is basically the second session that takes
[14:47.260 -> 14:53.660] place on Saturday. There are three parts to the qualification session. It starts
[14:53.660 -> 15:00.540] with Q1 where all the drivers, all the cars participate and a lot of time, I
[15:00.540 -> 15:05.060] mean most of the times, most of these teams are not actually running at
[15:05.060 -> 15:10.760] a hundred percent performance for for these sessions probably like the lower
[15:10.760 -> 15:19.840] midfield teams like Haas and Williams probably are but yeah more likely than
[15:19.840 -> 15:27.240] not they are saving some performance for like the later sessions and yes five people get
[15:27.240 -> 15:37.720] eliminated in the Q1 and 15 out of these 20 move on to the Q2.
[15:37.720 -> 15:48.400] And the process repeats again into Q2 with slightly change rule on tires, right? Oh yeah, there is a special rule for Q2
[15:48.400 -> 15:52.680] that is that the fastest lap that you do in Q2
[15:52.680 -> 15:54.460] is the very same tire set
[15:54.460 -> 15:56.400] that you have to use at the race start.
[15:56.400 -> 15:59.080] And I don't just mean the tire type,
[15:59.080 -> 16:00.960] it's literally the same tires
[16:00.960 -> 16:03.160] that they have to use for the race start.
[16:03.160 -> 16:08.960] So essentially they have to be careful to not use up their tires a lot because otherwise
[16:08.960 -> 16:13.840] they're going to suffer during the restart and it also affects their strategy a lot.
[16:13.840 -> 16:18.920] So they have to be really careful with their choice of tires for Q2.
[16:18.920 -> 16:24.800] And similarly to Q1, you have five folks that get eliminated and then you have the top 10
[16:24.800 -> 16:25.080] moving into the final Q3. you have five folks that get eliminated and then you have the top ten moving
[16:25.080 -> 16:29.960] into the final Q3. The funny thing is that you know sometimes the teams
[16:29.960 -> 16:35.840] actually prefer getting the 11th position because all the other drivers
[16:35.840 -> 16:41.360] from 11th to 20th get a free tire choice for the race start so sometimes being
[16:41.360 -> 16:46.500] 11th is actually advantageous than the 10th because the person on 10th has
[16:46.500 -> 16:50.760] to use old tires and you can use a fresh set of tires which can give you that advantage.
[16:50.760 -> 16:52.560] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[16:52.560 -> 16:53.560] Yeah.
[16:53.560 -> 16:58.520] And I mean, we've spoken about tires in our exactly previous episode, folks, the three
[16:58.520 -> 17:00.880] composites, the soft, the medium and the hard.
[17:00.880 -> 17:02.240] Go ahead and check it out.
[17:02.240 -> 17:05.600] Check us out on episode four to hear about tires. But yeah,
[17:05.600 -> 17:13.040] Q3, the final qualifying, you're going to see the top 10 drivers battle it out for a position
[17:13.040 -> 17:18.880] on the grid. Yeah, Q3 is like possibly the most exciting session in the qualification.
[17:19.680 -> 17:24.960] You know, you're pretty much glued to the TV, looking at the leaderboard, you know,
[17:25.640 -> 17:33.200] you know you're pretty much glued to the TV looking at the leaderboard you know monitoring the mini sectors of each driver and like people like the pole
[17:33.200 -> 17:38.720] positions keep changing and yeah it's a lot of fun you know everybody is just
[17:38.720 -> 17:44.120] having a blast out there you know just going a hundred percent at it at Q3
[17:44.120 -> 17:47.320] because they don't have any restrictions in
[17:47.320 -> 17:49.640] terms of tire choice or anything like that.
[17:49.640 -> 17:52.120] So yeah, it's, it's quite fun.
[17:52.120 -> 17:57.560] I mean, for a big part, the position on the grid matters, because there is something called
[17:57.560 -> 18:02.280] as a race line, which is essentially the most optimized line on the race.
[18:02.280 -> 18:05.040] And if you continuously follow that, you're going to have like the fastest or the shortest distance on the race and if you continuously follow that you're going to have like the
[18:05.040 -> 18:12.120] fastest or the shortest distance on the lap and usually p I mean not usually always sort
[18:12.120 -> 18:17.100] of like the p1 position is starts on the race line and then p2 is slightly off the race
[18:17.100 -> 18:22.320] line but then the advantage what you would ask what is why not have p3 I mean you are
[18:22.320 -> 18:27.840] ahead already of p3 so you have that advantage that advantage of staying on P2 and as such.
[18:27.840 -> 18:30.000] So yeah, everyone's just trying to be as ahead
[18:30.000 -> 18:31.640] on the grid as they can,
[18:31.640 -> 18:35.000] because during race day, the further you are on the grid,
[18:35.000 -> 18:37.200] the better chances you have to stay there,
[18:37.200 -> 18:39.520] and the similar advantage you have.
[18:39.520 -> 18:42.240] So Sunday is the race day,
[18:42.240 -> 18:48.560] and you'll hear race days here, David Croft just going crazy and nuts on that.
[18:49.680 -> 18:54.560] Yeah, race days. It's a big event. It's a carnival, I would say.
[18:55.200 -> 18:59.920] I mean, it's pretty much like a carnival. You have like all these flashing colors,
[18:59.920 -> 19:05.600] all the teams gathered there. They are just scrambling around here and there.
[19:05.720 -> 19:08.680] It's fighter jets flying over the race.
[19:08.920 -> 19:09.420] Exactly.
[19:10.080 -> 19:11.160] It's really exciting.
[19:11.160 -> 19:16.800] Everybody's just buzzing around and excited for, you know, what happens at the race.
[19:16.840 -> 19:29.640] I think it's the, it's the only day, I mean, the other days too, but like it's the day out of the race weekend where I think adrenaline is at its maximum like it's oozing out of your body from every pull.
[19:29.640 -> 19:36.080] Yeah definitely many times I really can't sleep on the previous night you
[19:36.080 -> 19:41.560] know just because of the excitement of the race day. Especially when Hamilton's
[19:41.560 -> 19:49.720] not on the pole. Oh definitely. But yeah, race day, it's essentially what F1 is.
[19:49.720 -> 19:54.320] Going in circles on whatever track that they are on that day.
[19:54.320 -> 19:57.520] The tires don't last you all throughout the race.
[19:57.520 -> 20:00.960] So you have to come in, pit stop, which is what it's called,
[20:00.960 -> 20:02.240] change the tires.
[20:02.240 -> 20:05.160] If you have any other damages, then they also get addressed
[20:05.160 -> 20:06.680] during those pit stops.
[20:06.680 -> 20:09.400] And the strategy with which you make up a pit stop
[20:09.400 -> 20:12.640] sort of essentially governs your position
[20:12.640 -> 20:15.480] and how well you've played the game,
[20:15.480 -> 20:17.800] thinking what the other teams are going to do.
[20:17.800 -> 20:19.840] Yeah, one thing I wanted to talk about
[20:19.840 -> 20:23.160] was that there are certain really strict rules
[20:23.160 -> 20:25.280] that a fire has in relation to pit lane, mainly because there are certain really strict rules that FIA has in relation to
[20:25.280 -> 20:30.320] pit lane mainly because there are so many personnel like these engineers out
[20:30.320 -> 20:35.040] there on the pit lane so that they have to maintain a very high standard of
[20:35.040 -> 20:40.120] safety. They have very stringent speed limits placed in these pit lanes and
[20:40.120 -> 20:46.960] they have a marking at the start of the pit lane and they also have a speed detector
[20:46.960 -> 20:49.720] which ensures that none of these drivers
[20:49.720 -> 20:51.960] are flouting any of these rules
[20:51.960 -> 20:54.360] and they come down with a hammered
[20:54.360 -> 20:57.960] if you know, even if you slightly violate
[20:57.960 -> 21:00.680] the speed limits in these pit lanes.
[21:00.680 -> 21:04.160] Yeah, what is it like what 80 kilometers per hour
[21:04.160 -> 21:09.680] or something? Yeah, it kind of depends on the track and how much space is available in the pit lanes.
[21:09.680 -> 21:16.120] So on tracks like Monaco, where the track is very narrow, it's somewhere around 60 kilometers
[21:16.120 -> 21:22.680] per hour and other tracks like Spa, it's around 80 kilometers per hour.
[21:22.680 -> 21:23.680] Right.
[21:23.680 -> 21:24.680] Yeah.
[21:24.680 -> 21:26.280] And you do get penalized with points
[21:26.280 -> 21:29.560] or whatever it is probably for the next race or something
[21:29.560 -> 21:33.200] if you're even the slightest off in the pit lane.
[21:33.200 -> 21:38.680] So yeah, so they take it super seriously out there.
[21:38.680 -> 21:41.280] Yeah, and while we are on the subject of pit stops,
[21:41.280 -> 21:44.240] the other thing to note is earlier,
[21:44.240 -> 21:45.800] if people have seen earlier
[21:45.800 -> 21:49.280] races, you would have seen that, you know, there's a big nozzle coming out of the top
[21:49.280 -> 21:54.920] and then refueling is happening and whatnot. And there were other car advantages. But now
[21:54.920 -> 22:00.120] all of that stopped, like no refueling is allowed. The car needs to be prefilled with
[22:00.120 -> 22:04.720] a set amount of fuel that they think they need for the race. And that's what they get
[22:04.720 -> 22:05.500] for the race. So now they have to maintain they think they need for the race. And that's what they get for the race.
[22:05.500 -> 22:09.500] So now they have to maintain fuel also while considering how they race.
[22:09.500 -> 22:14.500] But yeah, after you're done through all the two hours and all the laps,
[22:14.500 -> 22:19.500] you see that checkered flag, the teams come home, the drivers come home.
[22:19.500 -> 22:23.500] What's interesting now is everyone's fighting for those points.
[22:23.500 -> 22:31.640] And what are those points you ask? Well, only the top 10 position get points. So everyone's trying to be in what they'll
[22:31.640 -> 22:36.520] call the points or the points table and the points go sort of like an exponential way
[22:36.520 -> 22:42.280] which is the first place has 25 points, the second has 18, the third has 15, the fourth
[22:42.280 -> 22:45.520] has 12 and you get the idea all the way to the 10th place,
[22:45.520 -> 22:54.160] which has just one point. But each point matters. Because like, I mean, if Williams had,
[22:54.160 -> 22:57.920] you know, some of their drivers in points table, even in like three or four races,
[22:57.920 -> 23:01.920] they would have finished over Haas last season, which I think will happen this year because
[23:01.920 -> 23:07.500] Mazes spin is going to keep spinning. Yeah, it seems that way.
[23:07.500 -> 23:10.500] But nonetheless, everyone's fighting for these points.
[23:10.500 -> 23:16.500] And what happens here is sort of interesting and it's a cyclic process
[23:16.500 -> 23:22.500] because every driver's point gets added to the team points.
[23:22.500 -> 23:25.760] So let's say if both the drivers finish first and second,
[23:25.760 -> 23:31.000] the team essentially gets 25 plus 18, so 43 points.
[23:31.000 -> 23:35.840] And those points lead you to a constructor championship table.
[23:35.840 -> 23:39.960] Essentially, all the teams are basically just fighting for that,
[23:39.960 -> 23:42.360] the constructors championship table.
[23:42.360 -> 23:50.480] They essentially don't really care about the driver's championship because at the end of the day, these are like multi-million dollar businesses and money
[23:50.480 -> 24:11.400] is everything as we say cash is king. So yeah, their focus pretty much is on winning that Going back to the origins of F1, F1 essentially was never a championship
[24:11.400 -> 24:16.560] series as such. There used to be only individual races that were held which
[24:16.560 -> 24:31.120] are called as Grand Prix which in French means the Grand prize and used to have these individual events which would award the
[24:31.120 -> 24:37.600] winner the grand prize but these days what we have is we have this championship series and
[24:38.480 -> 24:50.560] FIA basically distributes the money that it earns throughout the year to the teams in the order in which they appear on the constructors table. So starting from
[24:51.360 -> 24:55.920] the team at the top which gets the most amount of money and the amount keeps reducing
[24:56.560 -> 25:00.000] exponentially towards the bottom. So the team that wins
[25:00.520 -> 25:02.520] gains the most amount of money and
[25:02.560 -> 25:05.400] the team that is at the bottom of the table receives the least amount of money and the team that is at the bottom of the table
[25:05.400 -> 25:10.060] receives the least amount of money. This also creates kind of like a negative
[25:10.060 -> 25:17.080] feedback cycle where the team that wins you know can invest more funds for the
[25:17.080 -> 25:21.960] development of their car in the next season and yeah the lower teams have
[25:21.960 -> 25:26.240] less money to put in and then then that kind of creates a negative feedback cycle,
[25:26.240 -> 25:29.760] which, yeah, you can see what's happening
[25:29.760 -> 25:30.960] with Williams these days, right?
[25:30.960 -> 25:33.000] That's essentially what's happening.
[25:33.000 -> 25:35.320] Same with Haas, they just don't have the money
[25:35.320 -> 25:37.720] and since they don't have the money,
[25:37.720 -> 25:39.980] they can't produce a good car,
[25:39.980 -> 25:42.260] they are ranking lower on the table,
[25:43.600 -> 25:47.060] and yeah, so they can't develop their cars
[25:47.060 -> 25:48.880] as much as their competitors are.
[25:48.880 -> 25:51.600] So they are at a huge disadvantage here.
[25:51.600 -> 25:52.880] And that's why it's very essential
[25:52.880 -> 25:54.360] to get those higher positions.
[25:54.360 -> 25:57.920] Right, and that's again like the cycle
[25:57.920 -> 26:00.120] of making money versus spending
[26:00.120 -> 26:02.840] versus everything that goes on, right?
[26:02.840 -> 26:05.760] Like how you behave this year sort of tells you
[26:05.760 -> 26:10.120] how you're going to probably end up doing and what chances you have the next year.
[26:10.120 -> 26:17.640] One interesting thing that I wanted to mention was that FIA has actually tried to cut down
[26:17.640 -> 26:27.800] on this negative feedback loop by introducing a new rule where I think this started in 2019 so from 2020
[26:27.800 -> 26:34.280] basically the team that is at the bottom of the table receives the most amount of
[26:34.280 -> 26:38.360] time for wind tunnel testing and the team at the top of the table that's
[26:38.360 -> 26:42.320] Mercedes receives the least amount of time for wind tunnel testing so this way
[26:42.320 -> 26:48.380] these teams are not stuck in this, you know, spiral, which is just draining
[26:48.380 -> 26:51.400] money from them.
[26:51.400 -> 26:58.120] Speaking of wind tunnel, let's let's talk about all these technologies, terminologies
[26:58.120 -> 27:03.760] that you know, we keep hearing throughout either the episode, post episode, pre episode,
[27:03.760 -> 27:08.300] or you know, we keep keep discussing during our discussions.
[27:08.300 -> 27:13.300] So the first term that comes to my mind is DRS.
[27:13.660 -> 27:17.140] You're gonna hear this third lap into the race
[27:17.140 -> 27:19.540] or second, third, fourth lap into the race,
[27:19.540 -> 27:23.820] either during restarts or during when the race starts.
[27:23.820 -> 27:26.800] DRS stands for drag reduction system.
[27:27.600 -> 27:35.760] What this is essentially is that the car's rear wing creates a downforce which pushes the rear
[27:35.760 -> 27:46.360] of the car down but this also produces drag which restricts the car's top speed. And what happens when a car is allowed to use DRS
[27:46.360 -> 27:49.000] is the rear wing has two slits,
[27:49.000 -> 27:53.060] which sort of open up, letting more air pass through it.
[27:53.060 -> 27:57.160] And this is then designed to sort of reduce this drag
[27:57.160 -> 28:00.120] that the car gets and enable a higher top speed.
[28:00.120 -> 28:02.520] So essentially they get roughly around
[28:02.520 -> 28:06.880] 20 to 30 kilometers per hour extra when on those trades.
[28:06.880 -> 28:14.240] The only catch is they just can't use it all the time. A driver needs to be in that one minute
[28:14.240 -> 28:22.320] range of the driver in front when there is the DRS checkpoint. So every lap has a couple of DRS
[28:22.320 -> 28:26.160] checkpoints where they check what is the distance between the two cars
[28:26.160 -> 28:29.200] and if you are within that limit when you are crossing that point
[28:29.200 -> 28:32.540] you are going to hear a radio saying DRS enabled
[28:32.540 -> 28:37.000] and you are going to see the rear wing open up and the cars go a bit more faster.
[28:37.000 -> 28:38.800] What else comes to mind, Saram?
[28:38.800 -> 28:46.200] One another thing which I wanted to mention was about energy recovery systems on the cars.
[28:46.200 -> 28:49.960] Basically there are two types of energy recovery systems.
[28:49.960 -> 29:00.280] One is the MGU-K and the other is MGU-H. MGU-K is basically used for recovering kinetic energy.
[29:00.280 -> 29:07.600] So when these cars are under braking, the pistons of the engines are still moving, right?
[29:07.600 -> 29:13.040] So there is still power that is outputted, just that it is not transferred to the wheels.
[29:13.040 -> 29:19.300] Instead it is used to turn a turbine which kind of generates energy and then that electric
[29:19.300 -> 29:26.000] energy is stored in batteries which these drivers can use with that overtake button.
[29:26.000 -> 29:32.000] The energy is used by, there are two electric engines at the rear wheels,
[29:32.000 -> 29:39.000] which deliver some power for a short duration that these drivers can use in their advantage for overtaking.
[29:39.000 -> 29:44.000] Though there are some limits on how much energy they can harvest in each lap,
[29:44.000 -> 29:45.680] otherwise people
[29:45.680 -> 29:48.720] will just keep harvesting energy.
[29:48.720 -> 29:55.000] And actually if you had noticed during the last few laps of Marine GP, Hamilton was harvesting
[29:55.000 -> 30:04.180] a lot of energy while entering to the corners and at the end he collected a lot of energy
[30:04.180 -> 30:07.200] and used it to defend his position against
[30:07.200 -> 30:08.200] Max.
[30:08.200 -> 30:11.680] And yeah, that's basically the genius of Hamilton.
[30:11.680 -> 30:15.760] It gives you that sudden burst of slight energy.
[30:15.760 -> 30:20.600] And again, that's similar to getting an extra 20, 30 kilometers per hour.
[30:20.600 -> 30:22.640] I think in the old times, it was called what?
[30:22.640 -> 30:23.640] CURS, right?
[30:23.640 -> 30:26.800] Like K-E-R-S, Kinetic Energy Recovery System.
[30:26.800 -> 30:30.560] But tech's advancing, so it's sort of getting newer.
[30:30.560 -> 30:34.680] And this technology has basically trickled down to consumer cars.
[30:34.680 -> 30:39.800] So if you have noticed, Prius actually uses the same technology.
[30:39.800 -> 30:50.320] And actually, if you've noticed, there's this panel inside the Prius right which kind of shows when you are de-accelerating like your foot is off the accelerator it's
[30:50.320 -> 30:56.160] like transferring energy to the power store. Anyways getting back to the topic
[30:56.160 -> 31:03.080] about the other counterpart of MGU-K which is MGU-H. MGU-H is basically
[31:03.080 -> 31:07.040] nothing but recovery of heat energy and mechanical energy
[31:07.040 -> 31:16.160] that the engine produces. Essentially the gases, the hot air that these engines produced is pushed
[31:16.160 -> 31:25.600] through a turbine which again produces electricity and which is stored in the battery and which can be used later
[31:25.600 -> 31:30.760] by the drivers for overtaking. Since we are on the topic of engines, Akash,
[31:30.760 -> 31:35.960] why don't you tell our listeners a little bit more about these engines or
[31:35.960 -> 31:40.520] rather known as power units. At the heart of it is what they call it as a
[31:40.520 -> 31:46.640] power unit. It's essentially nothing but the crux of converting the fuel into
[31:48.160 -> 31:56.080] motory rotors and making the car move on the track, the internal combustion engine essentially,
[31:56.080 -> 32:04.960] which is also how regular cars on the road operate. These power units are engines
[32:09.960 -> 32:16.440] the road operate. These power units are engines because they are subjected to so much stress, let's put it in a milder way, during the races. They don't last you throughout the season.
[32:16.440 -> 32:22.800] And what you're going to hear probably before some races, after some races is X team changed
[32:22.800 -> 32:26.000] or updated, or made some changes to their power unit,
[32:26.000 -> 32:29.340] which falls under FIA regulations.
[32:29.340 -> 32:32.000] And then depending on what sort of changes you've made,
[32:32.000 -> 32:34.540] if you replace the whole thing, blah, blah, blah,
[32:34.540 -> 32:38.800] you get a corresponding penalty.
[32:38.800 -> 32:43.440] Right. So this is also actually a huge part of the team strategies
[32:43.440 -> 32:45.540] because what happens is they
[32:45.540 -> 32:52.600] have to ensure that during the best races which suit their car the most they
[32:52.600 -> 32:58.000] have to have the healthiest engine for those races because so that that way
[32:58.000 -> 33:03.660] they can maximize the performance and extract the most out of the car if they
[33:03.660 -> 33:07.360] have an older engine or an engine that's,
[33:07.360 -> 33:10.600] you know, not at its peak performance,
[33:10.600 -> 33:11.600] that's not gonna help them.
[33:11.600 -> 33:13.560] Yeah, and this combined with aerodynamics
[33:13.560 -> 33:17.680] is essentially what these, again, I put it in quotes,
[33:17.680 -> 33:21.400] rocket ships are for the road.
[33:21.400 -> 33:27.760] Because, yeah, I mean, what you have front wings in quotes what you have front wings in quotes you have rear wings in
[33:27.760 -> 33:34.080] quotes which sort of try to cut through the air as much as possible giving aerodynamic
[33:34.080 -> 33:38.560] to the car combined with top of the line power unit and engine which just
[33:39.440 -> 33:45.600] makes these things go what at 300 350 kilometers per hour. Honestly it's a stretch to call
[33:45.600 -> 33:51.520] these machines cars. They are nothing like the cars that we get out in the
[33:51.520 -> 33:58.360] market. These are nothing but essentially a driver with an engine strapped to his
[33:58.360 -> 34:03.880] back and basically just placed in a carbon fiber monocoque which has wheels
[34:03.880 -> 34:05.600] and a steering wheel
[34:05.600 -> 34:07.200] which connects everything.
[34:07.200 -> 34:09.680] And if aliens come by,
[34:09.680 -> 34:12.800] they'll never be able to recognize what this is
[34:12.800 -> 34:14.000] and if that's a car.
[34:14.000 -> 34:15.600] Yeah, true that, true that.
[34:15.600 -> 34:19.840] Speaking of aerodynamics and additions to the car,
[34:19.840 -> 34:24.280] if you've not followed F1 but are new to F1,
[34:24.280 -> 34:26.680] you might notice, and even if you've seen F1,
[34:26.680 -> 34:31.680] you might notice this three-pronged thingy
[34:31.960 -> 34:34.880] right in front of where the driver sits, right?
[34:34.880 -> 34:39.880] And that's what F1 calls a Halo, H-A-L-O, Halo.
[34:39.940 -> 34:43.640] This was introduced in 2018 by FIA,
[34:43.640 -> 34:46.600] but it was like way long proposed by teams like Mercedes
[34:46.600 -> 34:48.320] in 2015.
[34:48.320 -> 34:51.360] And then soft demos were done in 2016 and so on and so forth.
[34:51.360 -> 34:58.160] And it was primarily adopted by FIA as a safety measure in 2018.
[34:58.160 -> 35:07.160] And if you've seen any of the incidents that have happened in the recent times, like the nastiest one being Khrushchev running into the wall
[35:07.160 -> 35:09.200] and the car splitting and him getting on fire.
[35:10.400 -> 35:14.840] These halos have been so much protective
[35:14.840 -> 35:17.760] because A, they are top of the line again,
[35:17.760 -> 35:20.240] because this is F1 and now the safety standards
[35:20.240 -> 35:21.560] are just off the limits.
[35:22.560 -> 35:26.920] So much so that even though the car ran through the barrier, the
[35:26.920 -> 35:32.120] halo is what protected him. And I'm of the opinion, I'm pretty sure that if it wasn't
[35:32.120 -> 35:39.680] for halo, sadly, Grosjean wouldn't have been with us. So, so halo's definitely been a good
[35:39.680 -> 35:45.040] safety addition to the sport. And so if there are any speculations within the drivers
[35:45.040 -> 35:48.800] who said we don't need this why do we have this I think everyone's of the
[35:48.800 -> 35:54.340] opinion that this has been time and again very effective in either saving
[35:54.340 -> 35:59.480] lives or preventing injuries so yeah the three pronged thing while you may think
[35:59.480 -> 36:08.200] it's affecting visibility for drivers it's like it's a lifesaver out there. Actually, it doesn't affect the visibility that much.
[36:08.200 -> 36:09.100] Yeah, it doesn't.
[36:09.100 -> 36:12.700] Yeah, because basically the way our eyes work,
[36:12.700 -> 36:16.400] since we see the equal amount from both our eyes,
[36:16.400 -> 36:19.000] it kind of cancels it out
[36:19.000 -> 36:21.500] since it's at the center of our eyes.
[36:21.500 -> 36:24.600] So, it doesn't affect
[36:24.600 -> 36:26.560] the drivers as much and they get kind of
[36:26.560 -> 36:32.160] used to it and the protection that it provides the pros you know really outweigh the cons.
[36:32.160 -> 36:36.640] True, true yeah and that's why I think it's gonna be like a
[36:36.640 -> 36:42.840] permanent thing now going ahead. Yeah for sure. By the way have you ever wondered
[36:42.840 -> 36:45.000] do these cars have a clutch?
[36:45.000 -> 36:53.080] And if they do, how are these drivers sort of pressing the clutch every single time and the amount of upshifts and downshifts they do?
[36:54.320 -> 37:05.480] Let me answer that for you. There is a clutch to begin with on the car, but the clutch is only used when the car needs to start from a standstill position.
[37:05.480 -> 37:10.360] So if it's sort of run off the track and it's come to a standstill and it needs to go from
[37:10.360 -> 37:15.420] neutral to first gear or during race starts or during any other time when it's going from
[37:15.420 -> 37:16.760] standstill.
[37:16.760 -> 37:21.520] But every other time the clutch never gets pressed because it's a dual clutch system
[37:21.520 -> 37:28.500] and the upshift and the downshift paddle automatically take care of the clutching mechanism on the back end.
[37:28.500 -> 37:36.500] So the drivers don't have to worry much about pressing that clutch every corner or every time they upshift or downshift.
[37:36.500 -> 37:47.520] But speaking of the steering wheel, Sarang, I can never get my head around all those numerous colorful buttons on there.
[37:47.520 -> 37:51.680] Yeah, they pretty much look like a control for a spaceship, right?
[37:51.680 -> 37:57.600] Yeah, I guess that's why they call the F1 seat a cockpit.
[37:57.600 -> 37:59.920] Yeah, pretty much.
[37:59.920 -> 38:09.440] These steering wheels themselves cost like hundreds of thousands of dollars. They are pretty much, you know, computers on their own.
[38:10.640 -> 38:15.640] Because basically the amount of stuff that they control in the car is insane.
[38:17.480 -> 38:21.280] They're really complex and like they have a lot of buttons like to call out a
[38:21.280 -> 38:24.360] few. They have this button for radio.
[38:24.360 -> 38:26.600] They have this button for a pit limiter,
[38:26.600 -> 38:29.280] which restricts the speed in pit lanes.
[38:29.280 -> 38:34.280] They have this another button basically for water.
[38:35.640 -> 38:39.520] There is this really funny clip of Kimi Raikkonen,
[38:39.520 -> 38:40.520] if you've heard.
[38:40.520 -> 38:42.760] It has to be him, it has to be.
[38:42.760 -> 38:48.120] Yeah, I think it is from 2019 if I'm not wrong.
[38:48.120 -> 38:55.740] I think what happened was that Ferrari mistakenly forgot to connect his water bottle.
[38:55.740 -> 39:01.600] So essentially he was not able to drink any water throughout the race and he was certainly
[39:01.600 -> 39:02.600] pissed off.
[39:02.600 -> 39:05.000] Yeah, it's a good back and forth, right?
[39:05.000 -> 39:07.100] Like you will have you will not have the water.
[39:07.140 -> 39:08.400] Will I have water? You will not.
[39:09.500 -> 39:10.700] Yeah, go ahead and drink it out.
[39:12.140 -> 39:17.340] Yeah, this is I think one of the gems that Kimi has given us in recent times.
[39:17.600 -> 39:21.300] Anyways, talking about the other buttons that are present on the steering wheel.
[39:22.000 -> 39:26.280] You might have heard a lot of times that engineers come over the radio
[39:26.280 -> 39:27.920] and give instructions to the driver,
[39:27.920 -> 39:31.280] something like strat seven, position two,
[39:31.280 -> 39:32.540] or something like that.
[39:32.540 -> 39:36.280] These things are basically small rotary dials
[39:36.280 -> 39:38.880] on the steering wheel,
[39:38.880 -> 39:42.480] and they control the engine modes of the car.
[39:42.480 -> 39:46.360] Engine modes are nothing but different presets
[39:46.360 -> 39:50.560] that are selected for different kinds of performance
[39:50.560 -> 39:54.520] because these teams are not always running the engines
[39:54.520 -> 39:58.260] at the highest performance through the whole race.
[39:58.260 -> 40:00.960] Though it has changed now in recent times
[40:00.960 -> 40:02.900] because FI has kind of clamped down on that
[40:02.900 -> 40:05.120] because teams which were better
[40:05.120 -> 40:11.920] off like Mercedes could really dial up their engine to 100% in you know small batches where
[40:11.920 -> 40:19.120] they really needed it what they used to call as party mode. So they have kind of restricted that
[40:19.120 -> 40:27.160] a bit now. Teams can only set the engine to a lower mode and that too only when the health
[40:27.160 -> 40:32.560] of the engine is in question otherwise you cannot use different engine modes
[40:32.560 -> 40:39.680] but in all honesty it hasn't given the same effect that if I hoped for the team
[40:39.680 -> 40:44.440] that actually benefited the most out of this was Mercedes because they pretty
[40:44.440 -> 40:48.960] much are now running the engine at a hundred percent performance pretty much for the
[40:48.960 -> 40:57.200] whole race. Well folks now if you hear change to X mode to Y it's still jargon
[40:57.200 -> 41:00.680] to me but you know someone's gonna rotate some buttons and push something
[41:00.680 -> 41:07.760] on the steering wheel which is gonna make some changes. And another thing that I wanted to mention about the steering wheels is that
[41:07.760 -> 41:11.840] if you have noticed that whenever these drivers are getting in or getting out of their cars,
[41:11.840 -> 41:15.200] they have to actually detach the steering wheels while doing that.
[41:15.200 -> 41:15.920] Yeah.
[41:15.920 -> 41:23.520] Because these cockpits that they sit in are so narrow and there is so little tolerance over there
[41:23.520 -> 41:26.440] that if they do not remove the steering wheels,
[41:26.440 -> 41:28.900] they cannot get out of the car.
[41:28.900 -> 41:36.280] And another thing is that these, the FIA basically mandates that you should be able to get out
[41:36.280 -> 41:41.820] of the car within a couple of seconds in terms of an incident occurs.
[41:41.820 -> 41:46.280] So yeah, these wheels are like quick release and you know the
[41:46.280 -> 41:52.720] drivers can essentially get out quickly yeah does this any other tech
[41:52.720 -> 41:58.080] terminologies come to mind that would have missed Sarah I can't I can't think
[41:58.080 -> 42:05.920] of um no nothing really comes to my mind as such. I think, yeah, listeners,
[42:05.920 -> 42:08.600] if there's anything that we probably missed
[42:08.600 -> 42:10.200] or there's some particular topic
[42:10.200 -> 42:12.440] related to technologies and terminologies
[42:12.440 -> 42:16.840] that you want us to elaborate further on
[42:16.840 -> 42:20.800] in a follow-up episode, please write to us.
[42:20.800 -> 42:23.480] And yeah, we would love to talk a little bit
[42:23.480 -> 42:24.460] more about that.
[42:25.000 -> 42:32.760] Anyways, moving on to the other topic that is of penalties.
[42:32.760 -> 42:39.720] So depending on the kind of violations that these drivers commit, there are different
[42:39.720 -> 42:47.020] kind of penalties that are awarded to these drivers. What FIA is most nitpicky about
[42:47.020 -> 42:53.180] is safety and they absolutely bring down the hammer on any driver which makes any
[42:53.180 -> 43:01.220] violation in regards to safety. So drivers have to abide by those rules. The
[43:01.220 -> 43:05.800] worst kind of the penalty that is generally given is a stop-and-go
[43:05.800 -> 43:13.320] penalty and in that you essentially have to get to the pit box, wait at the pit
[43:13.320 -> 43:19.200] stop for the amount of seconds that are included for the penalty and during
[43:19.200 -> 43:23.560] that time no mechanic can work on the car and even after use of your penalty
[43:23.560 -> 43:26.120] you have to get out of the pit box.
[43:26.120 -> 43:28.360] You cannot make any changes to the car.
[43:28.360 -> 43:29.680] You have to come back into the pit.
[43:29.680 -> 43:35.160] Correct me if I'm wrong again but like if they still want to do tyre like any changes
[43:35.160 -> 43:39.680] it will have to be after they've served their top and go right or they just can't.
[43:39.680 -> 43:40.680] Yep yep.
[43:40.680 -> 43:45.340] Yeah they have to come like go out on the track and come back again into the pit
[43:45.340 -> 43:49.800] lane if they want to change anything in the car.
[43:49.800 -> 43:57.040] Though other types of penalties that are given out are the 5 second and 10 second penalties.
[43:57.040 -> 44:04.960] In those cases, mechanics can work on the cars, but that's only after they have served
[44:04.960 -> 44:07.320] the penalty. Another thing to note is
[44:07.320 -> 44:12.680] that you have about two to three laps within which you have to get to the
[44:12.680 -> 44:17.320] pit box to serve the penalty because otherwise more penalties will be given
[44:17.320 -> 44:23.280] to the driver and yeah that that's just gonna get worse. I remember that there
[44:23.280 -> 44:28.360] was this race I don't remember when or where, but
[44:28.360 -> 44:33.600] Schumacher was like leading the race and towards the end of the race when there were I think
[44:33.600 -> 44:39.400] two laps remaining, he was given a penalty, a stop and go penalty which he had to serve
[44:39.400 -> 44:45.240] and basically what he did was during the last lap he entered the pit lane to serve his penalty
[44:45.240 -> 44:51.380] and since the pit box for Ferrari was at the very end of the pit lane, the start finish
[44:51.380 -> 44:53.440] line was like before the pit box.
[44:53.440 -> 44:59.840] So he finished the race in the pit lane and came in first without serving the penalty.
[44:59.840 -> 45:03.440] That's probably one of the only weird endings.
[45:03.440 -> 45:06.000] Yeah, they clamped down on that rule now.
[45:06.000 -> 45:07.000] Obviously.
[45:07.000 -> 45:10.200] Yeah, they have closed that loophole now.
[45:10.200 -> 45:18.560] Then you also have your other types of penalties like fines, which are generally put on the
[45:18.560 -> 45:26.000] teams themselves, but sometimes they're also given to drivers for unsportsmanlike behavior.
[45:26.000 -> 45:36.300] So, and apart from that, you also have these penalty points, which are kind of similar to what we have on our license.
[45:36.300 -> 45:46.600] Like, if you commit any violations, which affect the safety of the other drivers and yourself, you're given these penalty points,
[45:46.600 -> 45:47.760] which kind of accumulate.
[45:47.760 -> 45:51.280] And if like your penalty points cross a certain limit,
[45:51.280 -> 45:54.520] which is I think around 10 or 12,
[45:54.520 -> 45:59.520] you cannot participate in one or two upcoming races.
[46:00.200 -> 46:02.360] Yeah, and this is like a super license, right?
[46:02.360 -> 46:04.900] Like it's not the usual license that allows you to,
[46:04.900 -> 46:10.960] it's only for the racetrack. And I know, like, as we've called the old Max hot headed, I think,
[46:11.600 -> 46:17.520] early on in his career, he was accumulating some of these points to an extent that there would have
[46:17.520 -> 46:21.440] been a scenario if you would have gone into like, maybe one or two more incidents. And
[46:24.400 -> 46:26.080] maybe one or two more incidents and get up. Oh yeah, yeah, I remember that.
[46:32.640 -> 46:38.960] All right, folks, that was yet another episode from fan fiction or F1 fan fiction. How would you want to call us? You can listen to us on any of your favorite streaming platforms.
[46:38.960 -> 46:47.200] Our website is now live again. That's F1 fan fiction.comcom and you can reach out to us on contact us at the rate
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[46:54.280 -> 47:00.440] want us to do more of things similar to this and not just race weekends if there are any
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[47:21.580 -> 47:24.380] Until next episode, these are your hosts signing off.
[47:24.380 -> None] Bye bye.