What do commentators actually mean? The first part of the F1 Dictionary!
What will we discuss in the first part of the F1 Dictionary?
The meaning of the flags
The different tyres (Now vs. 2018)
The meaning of the flags
In F1, and most other motorsport competitions, there are 8 colours of flags that can be waved during a race or over the course of a Grand Prix weekend.
The yellow flag
The green flag
The yellow/red striped flag
The blue flag
The white flag
The red flag
The black flag
The chequered flag
The yellow flag
The green flag
A flag we see every weekend. The yellow flag indicates that somewhere around the track a car is in a dangerous position, this is often also accompanied by a (virtual) safety car. Yellow could be after a spin, crash or something else. There are two ways this flag can be shown:
Single waving flag - Overtaking is not allowed, be prepared to slow down drastically. A car could be stranded on track, stay aware and be careful.
Double waving flag - Overtaking is not allowed, slow down immediately as there probably is an accident up ahead. The track is probably blocked.
The flag that often follows a yellow flag. Green means that whatever caused the yellow flag is under control and fixed. The track is clear again and drivers can speed up again. Overtaking is allowed and racing will continue as normal.
You can also see this flag after the formation lap to indicate that all the cars are in their grid position and the light sequence can begin!
The blue flag
Also a flag that can follow from the yellow ones. Red means that the session is completely suspended/stopped and cars need to return to the pitlane. This could be triggered by for example a terrible accident, a track that’s littered with debris or weather that causes the track to de undrivable. Having none of the cars drive on track give marshals and stewards time to get the situation under control.
Seb Vettel’s favorite flag! If you don’t know what that is a reference to - look up The Blue Flag song on YouTube! The blue flag is shown to cars that are being lapped by faster cars, always accompanied by the number of the driver it’s intended for. It’s basically a warning to a driver that a faster car is approaching from behind and to make space to let them pass. During practices or quali you’ll see these flags pop up as well!
The red flag
The yellow/red striped flag
In my time watching F1 I haven’t seen this one being waved, but this flag indicates a water/oil spill. The track is slippery and drivers should be careful. If it’s rocked side to side it means a small animal is on the track and to slow down to not crush the little animal.
The white flag
The white flag indicates a slow driving vehicle on track! This could be during the last lap of practice session when drivers do a practice start on the main straight. Just to help remind the drivers to stay aware. It could also be because a truck is crossing the road to remove a car - even though this would also be covered with a yellow flag!
The black with orange circle flag
Just as the regular black one it’s accompanied with the number of the driver it’s intended for. The black with orange indicated the car has mechanical issues or is damaged and must return to the pits as soon as possible.
The black flag
This flag is always accompanied with the number of the driver it’s intended for. It means that driver is disqualified from the race and has to return to the pits immediately.
The chequered flag
Well I feel like we all know this one very well: it’s the end of the session/race flag! Waved in a beautiful way over start/finish to indicate that every driver that covers is done competing! I love watching how people did it back in the day, with the jump! Such a nostalgic feeling and I wasn’t even an idea during that time hahaha
The black/white diagonal flag
It’s the warning flag. Also always accompanied with the number of the driver it’s intended for. It’s mostly use to warn drivers of unsportsmanlike behavior or for track limits for example. If the driver keeps doing the behavior it’s warned for the black flag could follow.
2. The different tyres (now vs. 2018)
I’ve been thinking of how to make this part logical and bear with me because I’m gonna try something.
We’ll discuss the tyre compounds that are currently making the cars go around the track vs. what they looked like in 2018 (before Pirelli changed the tyres). After this segment you’ll be able to impress anyone with your knowledge over the wondrous tyre world of F1!
Before the 2019 season Pirelli decided to switch from their rainbow tyre collection (we’ll get to that after the current tyre situation) to using 3 colours - White for Hard, Yellow for Medium and Red for Soft - alongside the rain tyres - Green Intermediate (for a little bit of rain) and Blue Wet (heavy rain, puddles of water). Using these three colours meant that it was easier for fans to watch F1, they didn’t have to worry anymore about what each colour meant. Now I always liked the rainbow tyre collection hahaha because you knew immediately what sort of tyre it was, now Pirelli uses compounds hidden behind the three colours. And believe me even I get confused. I hope the next slides clear it up for you!
Again Pirelli has always divided their tyres in 5 categories:
Hard
Medium
Soft
Intermediate
Wet
Like I said Pirelli now uses compounds to change tyres from weekend to weekend instead of changing colours like they did previous to 2019. From the outside there is no difference in tyres, we don’t see a difference, but ‘the inside’ of the tyre is. Let’s get into it. Pirelli supplies a range of the tyre ‘compounds’ (that’s what they are called) starting with C1 (the hardest tyre) to C5 (the softest tyre).
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
The hardest tyre that can be used. It has a high durability, but not a good grip. Works wonders on circuits where tyre wear is demanding, but takes long to heat up.
A slightly softer tyre but still considered hard. It can be seen as a mix between the C1 and the C3. Works good on tracks with high temperatures and speed.
The medium tyre in the field. It can be seen as a mix of all three tyres. Medium durability and grip. Is more a ‘performance’ tyre instead of a durable tyre. Works good at street circuits too!
Relatively soft tyre, but still has the medium aspects. Works well on twisty and tight circuits, warms up quickly and reaches its peak soon. Life span is shorter than the previous compounds.
Softest tyre of the field. Useful on tracks where mechanical grip is required. Has the shortest lifespan of all of the compounds, but gives you a massive advantage if you can make it work.
Now that you’re up to date with that we are racing with now, shall we take it a step further? Since I started watching the sport I saw the rainbow tyres and I loved them. They were my little piece of heaven, because I dove into the strategy area of F1 to understand the sport better and to love them even more. Keep in mind this information is OLD, we don’t use it but if you wanna impress someone - you’ll like this part!
Superhard
Hard
Medium
Soft
Supersoft
Ultrasoft
Hypersoft
Rarely ever shown, but basically the hardest of the hardest tyre ever. Has the highest working range and needs to be heated to 120-145 °C to work.
Still a hard tyre, but not as hard as the previous one. The C1 of this year is relatable to this one, the C1 is a bit softer. This tyre needs to be heated to 105-135 °C to work.
The original medium tyre. Not a hard and not soft. It’s basically the C2 tyre but then a different colour. Needs to be heated to 110-145 °C to work.
This tyre was almost at every race in 2018, it missed 4 races. It’s the C3 tyre from this year, kept its colour. Needs to be heated to 105-135 °C to work.
The second soft tyre: Was also seen at a lot of races. Just a good working tyre. Needs to be heated to 90-110 °C to work, so first one to require heat under 100 °C!
The purple one, that brings a purple sector (jokes). The C4 is identical to the ultrasofts. It needs to be heated to 90-110 °C to work.
The fastest, softest, weakest tyre of the field. It relates to the C5 tyre and was always used as the quali tyre. Needs to be heated to 85-105 °C to work.
What will we discuss in the second part of the F1 Dictionary?
Words from Grand Prix weekends that are important to know
Parts of an F1 car and knowing what’s what!
So for the next part: keep sending in words that confuse you and things I definitely should put in the second part of the F1 Dictionary!