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F1

How do F1 drivers practice?

Formula One drivers practice for countless hours both on the track and at home in order to post the best times possible.
By Michael Burgess II
5 min readPublished on
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was the youngest Formula One driver to make his debut in history at just 17 years old. Some say it’s in his blood, as his father was also a F1 driver and his mother was a successful kart driver. But if you ask Verstappen himself, practicing on and off the track has been essential to his success.
“I told [Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko] I want to install a simulator there [in my motorhome] so I can keep driving at night,” Verstappen said in an interview this year. “It’s my hobby and it also keeps me sharp.”
Max Verstappen prepares to drive in the garage during practice

Max Verstappen prepares to drive in the garage during practice

© Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

In addition to endurance and strength training, F1 drivers like Vertsappen lean on technology to simulate race conditions. While simulators like Red Bull’s initially began as basic computer games in the late 1990s, every team now has one, and they mimic the exact vehicle model and road conditions the driver may encounter on race day.
In this article we will detail how F1 drivers practice, how they use simulators, and when they practice on an actual track.
01

Simulators

With F1 banning private testing in 2009, teams needed another way to get extra practice on tracks outside of race weekends. Welcome, simulators.
Simulators are exactly what they sound like--they simulate the race conditions that drivers will experience at any given race track. There are two types of simulators drivers use: factory simulators and home simulators.

7 min

From sim to reality

Max Verstappen gets sucked into his simulator and needs to clear different levels to get to the Belgium GP.

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Factory Simulators:

  • Owned and run by the driving teams themselves.
  • They have a host of instruments and technology that give drivers the most realistic experience possible of racing at the real track.
  • These simulators also allow teams to change the parameters of the world around their drivers, from weather to tire tread to even visibility, to expose them to several different scenarios that they could find themselves in.
  • The simulator is structured like a F1 car cockpit, and drivers wear their full driver suit and helmet while they’re in the simulator.

Home Simulators:

  • Some drivers own their own simulation setups that they use for additional practice when they aren’t at the factory.
  • Most of them feature a few screens set up side-by-side along with a F1 steering wheel and pedal system.
  • These setups aren’t equipped with all the fancy technology that the factory simulators have, so some of the more vital yet technical information is left out.
  • Gives drivers an opportunity to learn how to drive a circuit, including discovering a racing line, learning what angle to take certain turns and figuring out a track’s layout.
02

Pre-Season Testing Days

The only opportunity racing teams have to test their cars on the track for the first time is during “pre-season testing days.”
Sergio Perez stops in the Pitlane during day three of F1 testing in Bahrain

Sergio Perez stops in the Pitlane during day three of F1 testing in Bahrain

© Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

These days occur early in the World Championship campaign during February and March, before the season begins. During these tests, racing teams try different parts and components on their cars to find competitive advantages and see how well they handle different environments and circuits. You can find some teams simulating races, while other teams simulate performance laps, trying to push their car to its maximum limit possible to understand reasonable bounds for performance.
Drivers can drive as much as they want from 9 am to 6 pm local time, but, of course, teams have a limited amount of fuel and even a more limited number of tires to test on, so they typically only run for a few hours at a time.
03

Free Practice

F1 drivers have at least two Free Practice sessions during every race weekend.
Nyck de Vries on track during final practice before F1 Grand Prix Bahrain

Nyck de Vries on track during final practice before F1 Grand Prix Bahrain

© Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

Free Practice sessions give drivers and their teams a chance to go around a track without worrying about positioning or times. With no repercussions, teams often use this time to test out new equipment or see how their tires will perform on the circuit. Drivers use this time to find a rhythm and develop a racing line around the track, building up their comfortability so they can post the best times during qualifying and the race.
These are different from training days as practice sessions occur during the season and are a part of the overall race weekend; pre-season testing days happen in the offseason.
Most race weekends have three Free Practice sessions that last an hour. However, race weekends that feature Sprint qualifying will only have two Free Practice sessions that last an hour.
In sprint qualifying, instead of three practice sessions and three qualifying periods, there’s only one practice session and one qualifying session. Then, on Saturday, there is a “sprint,” which is a 100 km race around the track. The results from that race are then used to determine the starting grid for the main race on Sunday.

Conclusion

The F1 season can be very draining on its drivers. In order to ensure that they are always at their best, F1 drivers like Nyck de Vries practice for countless hours both on the track and at home in order to post the best times possible.
Dedication to training and continuous practice pays off.

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