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The ideas behind the predictions: tyres, strategy, pace, and air. Short, grounded explainers you can read in a minute.
Tyres & strategy
- Tyre DegradationVerifiedHow a tyre loses grip and pace as a stint goes on, the core driver of race strategy.
- Undercut / OvercutVerifiedTwo ways to gain track position by timing a pit stop earlier or later than a rival.
- Stop-Count StrategyVerifiedWhether a race is run on one pit stop or two, the strategic spine of a Grand Prix.
- Pit-Lane Time LossVerifiedThe total time a pit stop costs versus staying out, counting pit-lane transit plus the stop itself.
- Tyre CompoundsVerifiedThe range of dry tyres a team can pick from, and the trade of outright speed against how long they last.
- MarblesVerifiedBits of worn rubber that build up off the racing line, cutting grip for any car that strays there.
Pace & sessions
- Qualifying vs. Race PaceVerifiedWhy a car's one-lap qualifying speed can differ from its long-run race pace.
- Track EvolutionVerifiedHow a circuit gets faster across a weekend as rubber builds up and the surface cleans.
- Free Practice (FP1-FP3)VerifiedWhat each free practice session is for, and why FP2 long runs give the best public read on race pace.
- SandbaggingVerifiedDeliberately hiding a car's true pace in practice so rivals can't read how fast it really is.
- Sector CharacteristicsVerifiedHow a lap splits into three timed sectors, each with its own mix of corner speeds, revealing where a car's pace really comes from.
- Qualifying Format (Q1/Q2/Q3)VerifiedThe three-part knockout that sets the grid: Q1 and Q2 each cut five cars, Q3 decides pole.
Air & aero
- Dirty AirVerifiedThe turbulent wake behind a car that robs the one following of downforce and grip.
- DRS & Active AeroVerifiedHow cars are helped past each other, from the DRS flap of 2011 to 2025 to the active aero and energy boost of 2026.
- Slipstream / TowVerifiedSitting in the wake of the car ahead cuts drag on a straight, giving a following car a speed boost.
- Ground EffectVerifiedThe underfloor tunnels that generate most of a modern F1 car's downforce, reintroduced with the 2022 regulations.
- Downforce vs DragVerifiedThe core aerodynamic trade-off: more downforce means more cornering grip, but usually more drag and a lower top speed.
- PorpoisingVerifiedA high-speed bouncing the current ground-effect cars can suffer when the underfloor airflow stalls and recovers in a repeating cycle.
Race control
- Safety Car & Virtual Safety CarVerifiedThe two ways race control slows the whole field down after an incident, one behind a physical car and one on a virtual pace limit.
- Flags & SignalsVerifiedThe flag and light-panel signals marshals and race control use to tell drivers what's happening on track.
- Grid PenaltiesVerifiedWhy a driver sometimes starts lower than they qualified, and how a penalty is applied to the grid.
- DNF & ReliabilityVerified"Did Not Finish" covers any car that doesn't complete the race, and reliability is a real performance factor in its own right.
- Track LimitsVerifiedThe boundary of the circuit a driver must stay within, usually the outer white line, with lap times deleted for exceeding it.
- Red Flag RestartsVerifiedWhat happens after a session stops under red flag: how the grid resets, and what teams are allowed to change before it goes again.
Power & energy
- Fuel EffectVerifiedA car starts the race heaviest, with a full fuel load, and gets quicker lap on lap as that fuel burns off.
- Lift and CoastVerifiedEasing off the throttle before a braking point to manage the car, rather than braking as late as possible every lap.
- Energy HarvestingVerifiedHow a car recovers energy into its battery under braking, feeding the electrical power it deploys elsewhere on the lap.
- Power ModesVerifiedHow a 2026 driver manages and deploys stored electrical power across a lap, including a manual boost for attack or defence.
- Power Unit Components (ICE & MGU-K)VerifiedThe hardware inside a 2026 power unit: a turbocharged combustion engine paired with a single electric motor-generator, the MGU-K.
- Sustainable Fuel (2026)VerifiedFrom 2026, F1 cars run on fuel made entirely from non-fossil carbon sources, part of the sport's move to carbon neutrality.