Formation Lap & Race Start
VerifiedThe slow lap before a standing start that lets drivers warm tyres and brakes, and check the grid is clear before the race begins.
Before a standing start, the field completes a formation lap at reduced pace, weaving to build heat into the tyres and testing the brakes, before settling back into grid order to take their marks. Overtaking on the formation lap itself isn't allowed.
If a car has a problem and can't take its grid slot, it can start from the pit lane instead once the rest of the field has gone, or the start can be delayed. A car that stalls on the grid itself can trigger an aborted start for the whole field.
The race start itself is a standing start: all cars stationary, released together on the lights going out. It's one of the few moments a lot of grid positions can change at once, since a good launch or a slow one is worth more places in the first few hundred metres than almost anywhere else on the lap.