Glossary

The point in a corner where the car comes closest to the inside edge. Picking the right apex gives the highest speed on the way out of the corner.

Overheating that makes bubbles form under a tyre’s surface and chunks of rubber break off. Unlike graining, it doesn’t go away by itself.

A signal to a driver who is about to be lapped: they must let the faster rival through.

The team’s garage on the pit lane. “Box, box” on the radio tells the driver to come in for a pit stop on this lap.

The finish flag: it’s shown to the winner first, then to everyone else.

The championship for teams: each team scores the points of both its drivers. A team’s place in it decides its prize money.

A limit on how much a team can spend in a season, in force since 2021. Drivers’ salaries and the pay of the three highest-paid senior staff aren’t included.

The turbulent air behind a car. A driver following in it loses downforce in the corners and can’t stay right on the car ahead.

The force of the air pressing the car onto the track. The more of it there is, the faster the car takes corners, but on the straights it holds back acceleration.

A moving flap on the rear wing that helped drivers overtake from 2011 to 2025: it opened on a straight if a driver was less than a second behind. DRS was scrapped from 2026 and replaced by Straight Mode and Overtake Mode.

The lap before the start, when drivers warm up their tyres and brakes and then take their places on the grid.

The tyre’s surface tears into small rolls of rubber, and grip drops. It happens on a cool track and usually clears up after a few laps.

Moving a driver back on the starting grid. Most often it’s for changing power unit parts beyond the season’s allowance.

Tyres with a green stripe for a damp track — when there’s too little water for wet tyres but too much for dry ones.

A car moving off before the start lights go out. It’s punished with a time penalty or a drive-through of the pit lane.

An electric motor-generator linked to the engine’s crankshaft: it charges the battery under braking and sends energy to the wheels under acceleration. From 2026, it produces up to 350 kW.

The opposite of the undercut: a driver stays out longer than a rival and gains time while the rival is warming up their new tyres.

From 2026, extra energy from the hybrid system for a driver who is within a second of the car ahead at the detection point.

The period from the start of qualifying until the race, during which a car’s set-up can barely be changed. A breach means starting from the pit lane.

Points added to a driver’s Super Licence for breaking the rules. Twelve points in twelve months, and the driver misses the next race.

The lane along the garages that cars use to come in for a pit stop. It has a speed limit — usually 80 km/h — and going over it earns a penalty.

A stop in the pits to change tyres and, if needed, the front wing. The best crews change all four wheels in under two seconds.

The team’s command post by the pit lane wall, where the engineers and the team principal follow the race and talk to the driver over the radio.

First place on the starting grid. It goes to the driver with the best lap in the final part of qualifying.

The internal combustion engine together with the hybrid part — the electric motor and the battery. From 2026, the power is split roughly equally between them.

The session that decides the starting order for the race. It runs in three parts — Q1, Q2 and Q3: after the first two, the slowest drivers are knocked out, and in the third the top ten fight for pole.

The officials who run the session: they show the flags, send out the safety car and pass disputed incidents to the stewards.

The session is stopped, and the cars return to the pit lane. It’s shown after a serious crash, when a barrier is damaged or in heavy rain.

A driver who stands in for a race driver who is ill or injured, and who helps the team on the simulator.

A car that comes out after a crash or when there’s debris on the track. Drivers follow it without overtaking until the track is cleared, and the gaps between them close up.

A third of a lap: the track is split into three parts, and the time in each one shows where a driver is quicker. The best sector of the session is shown in purple, a driver’s personal best in green.

The pocket of air behind the car ahead: there’s less drag in it, so the chasing car picks up speed faster on the straight.

A short Saturday race on sprint weekends — about a third of the usual distance, with no mandatory pit stop. The top eight score points, from eight down to one.

The marked-out places for the start. Cars line up two by two in a staggered pattern, in qualifying order and with penalties taken into account.

The judges at each round: they investigate incidents and decide who gets penalised and how.

The part of a race between pit stops, driven on one set of tyres.

From 2026, the setting of the moving wings on the straights: drag drops and the car accelerates faster. Every driver can use it in the marked zones of the track.

The FIA licence you need to race in Formula 1. To get one, a driver has to score points in junior series.

Data from the car’s sensors — speed, revs, braking — that the team sees in real time.

Five or ten seconds that a driver serves at a pit stop or that are added to their result. It can be harsher: a drive-through of the pit lane or a ten-second stop-and-go in the pits.

The edge of the track, marked by the white line. Cross it with all four wheels, and in qualifying the lap is deleted; in the race, several offences earn a penalty.

How soft the rubber is. Pirelli has six compounds for dry weather, from C1 to C6, and brings three to each round: soft with a red stripe, medium with a yellow one and hard with a white one.

The loss of pace as tyres wear. When degradation is high, an extra pit stop pays off better than slow laps on old rubber.

A move where a driver pits before a rival and uses fresh tyres to gain enough time to be ahead once the rival has stopped.

A mode in which every driver must go no faster than a set time, without a safety car on the track. The gaps between the cars stay as they were.

Tyres with a blue stripe for heavy rain: the tread pattern clears water away from under the wheel.

Danger on that part of the track: slow down and don’t overtake. A double yellow means be ready to stop.