McLaren - History and Development

Race Weekend: Free Practice

Free practice is the time for teams to gather as much data as possible in preparation for the Grand Prix. While the drivers try to drive as many laps as they can during FP1, FP2 and FP3, all three Practices are used for different purposes:
FP1 is mostly used to find a general setup for the whole weekend with which the cars will be modified, because every track has different requirements from the teams, cars and drivers.

In FP2, the drivers do often drive longer runs on the track which has already developed. This practice session can be used to find possible race strategies, which is why this run is especially important for Sunday's Grand Prix. After the session, the drivers will have completed many rounds, most of them with a full fuel tank. In this session, the teams do their best to simulate the race conditions, however, track evolution after Saturday does often require some more strategic decisions during the race.

FP3 is the last training session before the qualifying and is held on Saturday. Here, the drivers try to get the best flying lap out of their cars in order to prepare for Qualifying. In this session, the conditions on track are most similar to those at Qualifying later that day, however, some aspects like track temperature might vary quite a bit.

Race Weekend: Qualifying

During the three stages of qualifying, the starting grid for the race (or the Sprint on Sprint-weekends) is determined. This is done by comparing the fastest individual drivers' lap times. Each driver can set as many times as they want, limited only by the time and the team's orders to save the tyres. Mostly, the drivers will perform two low-fueled runs including a slow Out-Lap (out of the pits), a hot ("flying") lap around the circuit and another slow In-Lap (to the pits). During the In- and Out-Laps, the drivers have to be careful not to interrupt other driver's hot laps.

In Q1, lasting 18 minutes, the last five drivers are ruled out and assigned their positions according to the lap times. In Q2, it is all about finishing in the top ten to make it through to Q3 for the top 15, the other cars stay in the pits. In the last outing of 12 minutes, the top ten spots on the grid are decided upon. The drivers featured in Q3 are issued a new set of soft tyres, to minimize the disadvantage of having to drive more often that the others.

Another rule may exclude drivers from a race: if the session is not held in wet conditions, all drivers (targeting those from Q1) must finish their fastest lap within 7% of the pole sitter's time. If they fail to do so, it is up to the stewards to either permit the driver, or he is excluded from the race.

In 2022, one rule concerning Q2 was abolished: the drivers going through to Q3 must no longer start on the tyres they qualified in Q2, but they can choose the tyres they want. This increases strategic options for the race and increases the focus to set the fastest lap (on mostly the softest tyres), instead of worrying about strategic decisions.

The driver finishing with the fastest lap, will be credited as the official polesitter, no matter whether another potential Sprint race winner will take the first place grid spot or the fastest qualifier will start from P1.

Race Weekend: Sprint

Sprint Qualifyings as they were called during the 2021 season, or since 2022 just called "The Sprints", replace one session of Free Practice (on three race week-ends each the last and the current 2022 season), and determine the grid for the Grand Prix on Sunday. The week-ends' schedules are changed to reflect the 100-km long race. They take approximately half an hour, under ideal conditions (without Safety Car period, in perfect weather etc.). The starting grid is set on Friday's Qualifying, taking place after the FP1 while FP2 is held ahead of the Sprint on Saturday.
One big difference from Sunday's Race is that during a Sprint, there is no mandatory pit stop for tyre changes, instead, the drivers will just focus on driving and the strategy will most likely only come to play for Sunday's Grand Prix. However, it is not forbidden to stop and change to a set of fresh tyres or swap a damaged Front Wing.
While last year, Pole Position was awarded to the Sprint Qualifying's winner, fans demanded this to change so that the fastest car on Friday's Qualifying will be called "Pole Position". Although this does not end all emotional discussion about pole position , the FIA stated that "the pole position [will be awarded to the qualifying's winner] for statistical purposes. Sunday's Grand Prix grid will still be determined by the results of the Saturday Sprint".
In 2021, when the concept of Sprint Qualifying was tested for the first time, the winner of the Sprint was awarded 3 championship points, the second place 2 points, and the third place 1 point. This rule has changed drastically for the 2022 season: the top eight drivers will receive points, counting down from 8 points in P1 down to 1 point for the eighth driver to cross the finish line (if they do not have pending time penalties).

Races

Every race in the F1 calendar must be at least 305km long, meaning the number of laps completed around each circuit is different. The only exception to the 305km rule is Monaco where, due to the the slow average speed, the length is just higher than 260km. In total, an uninterrupted F1 race must be completed within two hours, the only exception being when the race is interrupted due to an incident on track, which allows this time to be extended to 3 hours.

During a race, the drivers can be sanctioned with time penalties, which can be either 5 or 10 seconds long and can also be provided more than once. At the next pit stop after the penalty is given, the drivers may already serve that by standing still for the given amount of time before the mechanics are allowed to work on the cars and change the wheels or the front wing. Time penalties are the only two penalties that can often be observed in most races.

Apart from unserved penalties, there is one other situation where the driver's ending position does not immediately correspond to the final result: If a driver has been lapped, he finishes the race directly after crossing the finish line when the chequered flag is waved. This means that some drivers will not complete the whole race's length, but rather one or two laps shy of the original number of laps.

Bolides

The Formula 1 bolides are highly regulated in the technical regulations provided by the FIA. This document for the 2022 season includes a 158 page long description of every part a car may or may not contain, focussing on providing equal chances to all the drivers.

Since the 2021 season, there is a budget cap on the teams' expenses, meaning that McLaren-CEO Zak Brown has openly stated that the top-teams (of the last season, 2021, Mercedes and Red Bull) have won the championship with money only. For 2022 the cap has been reduced to $140 million. All team chefs are highly disputing in the media whether this budget cap helps the sport to become more "inclusive" for the smaller teams and provide a competition that is more fair. On the other hand, Christian Horner (Red Bull) said repeatedly that the top teams "are are going to breach that $140million cap this year." (GP Fans) So, this debate is still ongoing and we will see whether the teams will be able to take part in every race this season or whether they will be forced to skip one or two because of the budget cap.

DRS

The Drag Reduction System is a mechanical and electrical system that allows drivers to reduce drag provided by back wings on straights. The back wings normally should increase the speed with which the cars can drive around corners by applying extra downforce to the car. This downforce, however, is counterproductive when trying to achieve maximum speed (primarily on long straights), because it increases friction with the ground and, due to the form of the wing, air drag.

Each track has at least two (maximum is three, Monaco only has one but is still allowed to be raced on due to its importance to fans) DRS zones where the drivers are allowed to activate the system.

The drivers are only allowed to "open their wing" if they are within one second of the car ahead (including lapped cars!). Thus, the system aims to produce more and easier overtaking. The major redesigning of the cars ahead of the 2022 season, however, already decreased the difficulty of overtaking by reducing the amount of dirty air a driver will experience when following a car ahead. This leads to discussions whether to ban the DRS completely, because some people argue that it gives the driver behind an unfair advantage.

Championship Points

They are what the drivers and teams are racing for apart from money: the "currency" to compare drivers' and teams' results. The drivers are awarded these points based on their position they hold at the end of the race (after applying potential penalties etc). Since the major revision of the points system, the top ten drivers (to finish the Grand Prix, or technically finishing 90% of the Grand Prix) will receive points based on their position:

If the race is stopped early, the given championship points depend from the race length that has been completed before the stop.

Additionally, one point is awarded to the driver holding the fastest lap of the race, if the driver's classified finish position is in the top ten. This rule has been reintroduced in 2019 after a 60-year abolishment period (since 1960).

Since 1991, all points scored by the drivers count towards the Drivers' Championship. Previously, only between (depending on the season) 4-15 best results of the season counted in the Championship. This rule has been abandoned since reliability of bolides has massively increased.

For more information on the topic, please see Wikipedia: List of F1 Point Scoring Systems

Constructors

There are 10 constructors in Formula 1, who each design their own car. But not all of them are building an own power train: There are only four motor suppliers (Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull and Renault, while the last one is only used in Alpine's bolide), but in terms of chassis, every team is different from each other.

When designing and building the chassis, the FIA has defined clear rules which must be followed, otherwise the teams are penalized or are not allowed to take part in a race or the championship at all.

Out of the 10 constructors, some are likely to change (e.g., the Lotus Team was bought by Renault and, since 2021, races under the name "Alpine"). This change often arises when the team either goes bankrupt or finds another main sponsor, after which they might rename the team for the new season. Other teams, such as Ferrari or also McLaren Racing, are considered "teams by tradition", and they do often find sponsors even when they are not as successful as planned. This is one reason, why the McLaren F1 team still exists: They have always been able to live up to their team's and sponsors' identities and secured the funding necessary to continue racing in the highest class.

Drivers

At every race, there are two drivers for each of the 22 teams, however, junior or reserve drivers may replace a main driver temporarily. E.g., German Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel was forced to skip the first two races due to his CoVid-19 infection. So, Nico Hülkenberg took his seat for those races.

The drivers do all have their own fitness coach and must train in preparation for the race weekends. Most people think that Formula One is not a real sport due to the drivers not moving as much as in other sports, however, the drivers must be highly focussed, and they train their reflexes for situations like snap oversteer or (close) collisions with other drivers where the car may react unexpected. Currently, some of the drivers experience extreme health issues generated by porpoising, the most extreme yet being Lewis Hamilton who had issues getting out of his car because his back hurt immensely, after the 51 laps driven at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.