FORMULA1 RACING STRATEGY

Racing and strategy
Main articles: Formula One racing and Formula One regulations
Nick Heidfeld and Nico Rosberg on the street circuit of Albert Park in the 2008 Australian Grand Prix.

A Formula One Grand Prix event spans a weekend, beginning with two free practice sessions on Friday (except in Monaco, where Friday practices are moved to Thursday), and one free practice on Saturday. Additional drivers (commonly known as third drivers) are allowed to run on Fridays, but only two cars may be used per team, requiring a race driver to give up their seat. A Qualifying Practice session is held after the last free practice session. This session determines the starting order for the race.[44][45]
A typical pitwall control centre, from which the team managers and strategists communicate with their drivers and engineers over the course of a testing session and race weekend.

[edit] Qualifying

In modern F1, a knock-out qualifying system determines the starting order of the race. For much of the sport's history, Qualifying sessions differed little from Practice sessions; drivers would have an entire session in which to attempt to set their fastest time, with the grid order determined from fastest car (on pole position) to slowest. Grids were limited to the fastest 26 cars and drivers had to lap within 107% of the pole sitter's time to qualify for the race. Other formats have included Friday Qualifying and sessions in which each driver only had one Qualifying lap.

The modern qualifying session is split into three phases. In the first phase, all twenty cars are permitted on the track for a twenty minute qualification session. Only their fastest time will count and drivers may complete as many laps as they wish. At the end of the first session, the slowest five cars are eliminated and will take no further part in qualifying. These cars will make up the last five grid positions in the order of their times.[46]

The times for the fifteen remaining cars are reset for the next fifteen minute session. The slowest five cars will make up the grid in positions 11 to 15 in the order of their times set in this session.[46]

The recorded fastest times for the ten remaining cars are then wiped in preparation for the final (ten minute) session referred to as the 'Pole Position Shootout'. At the end of this period, the cars will be arranged on the grid in positions one to ten in accordance to their fastest lap time. In the first two sessions, cars may run any fuel load and drivers knocked out after those sessions may refuel ahead of the race. However, the top-ten drivers must start the race with whatever fuel was left in the car at the end of the final qualifying session.[47] For all the sessions, if a driver starts a timed lap before the chequered flag falls for the end of that session, their time will count even if they cross the finishing line after the session has ended.[46]