As perhaps the most prestigious motorsport in the world, numbers have only been growing for the fastest sport in the world as viewership saw a 4% increase in the long 2021 season with the finale certainly showing just how exciting the sport can be – as 2022 brings huge regulation changes that fundamentally change the way the cars can race and bringing some exciting wagering opportunities for sites found at https://thebestcasinos.co.uk/ amongst many others, a new wave of viewers may look to explore all F1 has to offer – but what do newer viewers need to know about the new season when getting started?
Practice and Qualifying – Whilst the race day on Sunday is the big event, watching the practice sessions and the qualifying sessions on Friday and Saturday can be quite exciting too – but the timings are often misunderstood. It’s widely understood that FP1 and FP2 are sessions where the biggest teams in particular can test new upgrades or test different strategies and isn’t representative of any actual race pace, and as such nothing much should be taken from these timings. The third practice session is where timings may become more important, and teams will gradually improve through the three qualifying sessions in hopes of getting themselves on the front row.
Virtual Safety Car and Normal Safety Car? – If there’s an accident on track or just a small disruption to the race, there are two options chosen by race control in either a virtual safety car or a normal safety car but can be confusing at first. As soon as the yellow flags are shown, all cars must slow down by 35% and can’t pass other cars on track – the severity is what determines between the two, obstructions on track will tend to lead to a full safety car to allow marshals time to clean up, but a small disruption only requires a VSC instead.
Fastest pit stops in motorsports – One thing that will become immediately apparent is just how quick the pit stops are – some teams often being able to complete the stop in around 2 seconds – this is possible because the cars don’t refuel during the race, stops in F1 instead often only require a full set of tyre changes done by a large crew and small adjustments to aero parts like the front wing, and often lead to a very impressive feat in itself for how quickly the stops are performed.
There’s a lot to digest when first getting started with F1 so it’s best to learn at your own pace, but the sport is only growing ttactics and viewership numbers are growing rapidly and the sport is gaining more attention than ever before.
