You will hear them talking about adjusting their set-up or finding the balance. “Practice sessions, as a result, are important for the drivers to find their rhythm. In order to cut costs, testing in between the races is strictly limited. Formula One is a unique sport because drivers can’t practice at home – they can’t just get in an F1 car and take it for a spin. “Under the rules, a driver can’t take part in a race without taking part in at least one practice session, so it’s pretty important they turn up for practice. How do F1 practice sessions differ to other racing practices? You will have seen Mercedes rivals Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg vying for pole position a lot over the last three seasons – and that’s because they both wanted to start the race in first position, then they can dictate the pace of the race and they also have the advantage of driving in clean air.” “Qualifying is important even if you have the fastest car. This is really important at certain tracks – like Monaco or Albert Park in Australia – where overtaking during the race is more challenging. “The faster you qualify, the higher up the grid you will start the race. What is the importance of a good F1 qualifying time? “There are only 20 cars confirmed for the 2018 season, so we might see the numbers of cars eliminated in Q1 and Q2 reduced to five.” The very fastest car claims pole position – which is the first place on the starting grid. The cars then line up on the grid in order of fastest qualifying times from 1-22. ![]() “The drivers go head-to-head in another 12-minute session called Q3 – usually each car will try to set two fastest laps. At the end of Q2, another six cars are eliminated and the fastest cars go through to the top 10 shoot-out. This part of qualifying is particularly interesting because all the cars have to start the race on the tyres that they set their best time on during this session. “The times of the remaining cars are deleted and the same thing happens again in a 15-minute session called Q2. At the end of that period, the slowest six cars are eliminated, and the remaining 18 cars go through to the next phase. “In the first phase of qualifying – called Q1 – all the drivers have 18 minutes to go out on the track and set their fastest times. How does qualification in Formula One work exactly? You will often see drivers on the edge in qualifying so mistakes can happen, especially at a narrow, twisty street circuit like Monaco.” It’s such an adrenaline rush for the drivers – and fans – because the car’s laps have to be perfect and they are going as fast as they can to try to get as high up the starting grid as possible. You’ll hear some of the drivers say that qualifying is the most exciting part of their race weekend, because it’s when they can really stretch the car’s legs and see how fast it can go. It’s not just the race that’s exciting, Formula One qualifying rounds form half the excitement before the big race, correct? ![]() ![]() For more information on other F1 topics, take a look at our pages about:
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