Red Gear's Blog: Interesting Facts about Formula 1

Interesting Facts about Formula 1

Formula 1 is the most famous race car in the world; it consists of sophisticated things in technology or other aspects. Then, it is not surprising if you find interesting facts about Formula 1. Here are interesting facts about F1:

F1 car can go from 0 to 160 km/h and back to 0 only in 4 seconds
F1 engines last only for 2 hours of racing before blowing up, for market car usually can last until 20 years
F1 engines usually rotate up to 18000rpm meaning that the piston traveling up and down 300 times a second
An F1 car consists of 80.000 component, if it is assembled with accuracy only 99,9% the car can still start but with 80 wrong assemblies
Aerodynamic and downforce design of F1 car is very important, even small plane can take off at slower speed of F1 car

Without good aerodynamic and downforce system, F1 car can lose control and wheel spin only at 160 km/h while F1 car usually race at over 300 km/h
Downforce produced by F1 car front and rear wings is very amazing. When the car reaches speed at 160km/h, it can generate enough downforce to equal it's own weight
In a street race such as Monaco GP, F1 car downforce can provides suction to lift manhole covers. That's why, manhole covers have to be welded before the race
Normal tires can last up to 60.000 - 10.000 km, while F1 tires are designed to last only for 90 - 120 km
During the race, racing tire loses weight about 0.5 kg due to wear

A dry-weather of F1 tire reaches peak performance (best grip) at temperature 900 - 1200 Celsius. At maximum speed, F1 tire can rotate 50 times a second
Air used in mostly racing tires is Nitrogen because it has more constant pressure compared to normal air. Air usually contains water vapor which can make unstable pressure when temperature is increased
F1 Disc brake has operating temperature about 1000 Celsius before the turns, the disc is made by carbon fiber which has harder and more resistant to wear than steel

When hitting brake pedal, deceleration experience for F1 driver is equal to car hitting a wall at speed 300 km/h
If a cooling system hose was blowing off, all water of cooling system would be empty in just one second
F1 car has cable system about one kilometer, connecting about 100 sensors and actuators that monitor and control many parts of the car
The refueler system of F1 can supply 12 liters of fuel per second, meaning that you only take 4 seconds to fill the tank of market cars with capacity of 50 liters. The system is the same used by US military helicopters refuel system
Trained F1 crew can refuel and change tires only in 5 seconds
F1 car gearbox is only used for one race and changed periodically to prevent failure
An average F1 driver losses about 4 kg of their body weight after one race