Your F1 guide
Everything you need to know about F1
Formula One a team sport where fast cars, drivers, teams and fans are “fighting” to be the best in the world.
More and more people are becoming fans of the sport either from Drive To Survive on Netflix or tiktoks of drivers blowing up on Tik Tok (especially Charles Leclerc) but how really does the most expensive sport in the world works?
With the second race of the season taking place this weekend in China here is everything you need to know about F1.
What is F1?
Formula 1 is the pinnacle of motorsport and the world’s most prestigious motor racing competition. It’s a team sport, but the drivers are more like fighter pilots than sportspeople.
Experiencing extreme g-forces, making decisions in a split of a second that could change the entirety of their race, driving at 370km/h there is no doubt that this drivers are the best in the world.
Every driver competes for the F1 Drivers’ Championship, while the teams fight for the F1 Constructors’ Championship and prize money that comes with it, based on the position the team finishes at the end.
Each race is known as the Grand Prix and they are held in circuits all over the world. The 2025 calendar consists of 24 races and six F1 Sprint weekends.
The Teams and Drivers of F1
The F1 grid consists of 10 teams and 20 drivers. Each team has a pair fielding two cars.
The experience varies from the greatest of all time, 7-world champion Lewis Hamilton, 4-times world champions Fernando Alonso and Max Verstappen to having six new rookies debuting in their first full-time F1 season.
When it comes to teams you have the most experienced and historical team Scuderia Ferrari who has been at the sport from the very beginning to the newcomers like Haas, who entered the world of F1 in 2016.
How does the F1 weekend work?
So a F1 weekend typically starts on Friday and ends on Saturday.
On Friday there are two 60 minute Free Practices (FP) for teams to set up their cars. These are used to make sure the car works as it should, before set-up changes are then made and race preparations continue.
On Saturday after a final practice session, drivers head into a three-stage session called Qualifying. The slowest five drivers from the Q1 phase are eliminated from the session, before five more go out after Q2 segment. That sets positions 20-11 on the grid prior to any penalties. The final Q3 then decides the top 10 grid slots, along with the coveted pole position for the fastest driver.
Sunday is time for the Grand Prix where drivers battle it out to score points, grab a spot on the podium and reach the chequered flag first to win the race.
What is a Sprint weekend?
The F1 Sprint is a short race. It is about one-third of a typical Grand Prix distance and should last about 30 minutes.
In the 2025 F1 season there’ll be about six Sprint weekends. But how they really work?
A Sprint weekend is still a three-day affair with the Grand Prix as the main event. But the Sprint Qualifying session replaces FP2 on Friday afternoon and sets the grid for the Sprint.
The Sprint itself takes place on Saturday (instead of FP3), before Qualifying for the Grand Prix happens as normal.
And that’s a wrap on everything that you should know while entering the F1 world. It’s an exciting, fulfilling world that will grab you right at the start and take you through every happy, sad and emotional journey. Take a seat!