Marques Brownlee Explains Formula 1 Racing

Creative technology vlogger Marques Brownlee explained the basics of Formula 1 racing, noting how both the driving and machinery are integral to the sport. He also spoke about the rules of the race, the evolution of the vehicles, his excitement of seeing a gorgeous Ferrari race car and experiencing the thrill of race day.

So first of all, an F1 Grand Prix is actually a several-days-long event. First, there’s practice days, then there’s a qualifying day, then there’s the race day. So the practice day is actually just a fascinating thing to watch on its own because it’s a practice for both the drivers and the teams engineering the cars. 

Brownlee goes over how the race is structured.  

 …there’s actually three qualifying sessions in a row, elimination style. So you start with 20 drivers. The first session eliminates the slowest five, the second session, which is a little shorter, eliminates the next slowest five, and then the third and final session is the top 10 fastest laps in order from 1 through 10. And so everyone is after that precious first spot on the grid, aka pole position.

He also talks about how the races can have real world effects.

It is amazing to watch. And then the cherry on top for me is all of the effects that Formula 1 has on the world outside of Formula 1. It’s bigger than you might think. Like the obvious one is that, okay, some of the highest-end, most amazing innovations from trying to make the F1 cars faster will eventually maybe trickle down into the road cars that we have today.