Formula-1 (Introduction)

Over the span of couple of years I have added many of my friends to the fan-list of world's most thrilling, exciting and fastest sport: Formula-1. Now I want to add more to the sport I love the most (being an Indian it’s a surprise that I like F-1 more than Cricket!) I came across so many friends who like to watch race but because of unaware of rules and pattern one tends to loose interest. I would take you to a ride of F-1 starting from basics to more technicalities and to some amazing facts to develop more interest.

2009 championship:  

• There will be 17 races in this season; first race race is on 29th March at Australia. 
• There are 10 teams; each team puts 2 drivers for the race.
• Ferrari, McLaren, Williams, Toyota, Toro Rosso, Renault, Red Bull, Brawn, BMW Sauber, Force India are the teams. 
• A Race weekend includes 2 practice sessions on Friday, One practice session on Saturday and a Qualifying round. Race takes place on Sunday.
• Practice sessions is for the driver to get accustomed to the circuit, conditions, try their tyres etc.

Qualifying takes place in 3 phases: Q1,Q2 and Q3.

•  In the first qualifying session all cars run in the allocated time of normally 15-20 minutes. Best 16 cars qualify for the second qualifying whereas rest of the cars start from the grid at last (in order of the time they clocked in first qualifying) 
•  In the second qualifying 16 cars run trying to come in top 10 to qualify for Q2. Last 6 cars are placed according to their times. 
• In the last qualifying session final grid for the race is decided. Driver who gets best time starts from the front or what is called pole position.
• Cars cant refuel after the qualifying till the race. This is an important strategy point for the teams to fuel their car accordingly. If they fuel light and get pole position then they have a trade off as they have to pit early for filling fuel early in the race. 

Raceday

• Cars start from their position. 
• They have to take a pit stop to fill fuel and change tyres. 
• Winner gets 10 points and then the order is 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point for the eighth position. 
• At the end of season, i.e. after all 17 races are completed, Champion is decided on the basis of maximum points.