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A Typical Race Weekend
All Formula1 races in a season take place on weekends which are called Race Weekends of course. This is what any Race Weekend in the Championship Season Consists of:
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Testing: The weekend begins with Testing sessions on Friday & Saturday mornings. This is when each team gets to fine tune their cars
according to the race track even more. Each of Friday’s two practice sessions have now been extended from 1 hour to 1 hr 30 minutes, with race drivers permitted to use alternative engines, allowing them to preserve their race engines for the remainder of the weekend. (The bulk of the testing of each
individual parts of the cars is done unseen deep within the Constructor’s factory and wind tunnels. However, as part of moves to reduce the costs of the sport of Formula One
racing, there is a voluntary six-week testing ban during the late summer in which no teams test built cars anywhere.) -
Qualifying Session: This is the 1 hour knock-out session on Saturday in which the drivers compete to set the best time they can in order to determine the starting grid for the race. These days the qualifying is divided in 3 sessions - Q1, Q2 & Q3.
Q1 - All teams take part in the Q1 session. (20 minutes since 2008) At the end of it, the 6 slowest cars drop out and make up the last 6 places on the grid.
Q2 - After a seven-minute break, the 16 remaining cars then get to run in a 15-minute session. Just as in Q1, they may complete as many laps as they want at any time during that 15 minute Q2 period. At the end of the 15 minutes, the six slowest cars drop out and fill places 11 to 16 on the grid.
Q3 - After a further eight-minute break, the final 10-minute session will feature a shootout between the remaining 10 cars. This decides pole position and the starting order for the top 10 grid places. Again, these cars may run as many laps as they wish in the allotted 10 minutes.
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Race-Day: Now that the starting positions have been decided, the race can take place on the big Sunday. Thirty minutes before the formation lap, the pit lanes are opened and
then the drivers must adhere to a very strict starting procedure. The drivers then get to complete a reconnaissance lap of the circuit and take up their Grid positions. The pit lane closes 15 minutes prior to the formation lap. Any drivers still in the pit lane at this time will have to start the race from there. With three minutes to go all cars must have their wheels fitted (any car not complying will have to start from the back of the grid or the pit lane).With a minute to go all cars must have their engines running. All personnel must then leave the grid at least 15 seconds before the green lights come on to signal the start of the formation lap. The formation lap is just another lap through the circuit for the drivers in which they can warm their tyres, move the cars a bit. It is important that each driver stays in his track position during this lap, in other words, no overtaking is allowed. Once all cars have safely taken up their grid positions at the end of the formation lap five red lights will appear in sequence at one-second intervals. These red lights are then
extinguished to signal the start of the race.
Only exceptions to these start procedures on Sunday are due to weather or because of mechanical/any other problem a car may develop which has to be then moved to the pits. The car must then start the race from the pits. (If it can start at all)
There you have it, an F1 race underway which is often between 50 - 75 laps where each lap takes anywhere between 1 minute 10 seconds to 1 min 40 seconds. After the race is over and the chequered flag taken, the top 3 drivers just go and take their places on the podium and celebrate like hell with champagne while the rest look on and hope that the next weekend it’ll be their turn.