Formula 1 Real Facts

The Team

  • Team will practice an average of 1,000 pitstops over the year
  • The pitstop crew take approximately 5 seconds to re-boot and re-fuel with 26 people in the pit box
  • F1 team budgets total over $3bn
  • Largest teams spend $400m+ per season currently
  • Williams will produce just 4 FW31 chassis in 2009

The Car

  • It takes four days to build the car from a bare chassis to a fully operational race car
  • Gearbox has 7 forward and 1 reverse gear. The drivers will typically change gear up to 2,800 times per Grand Prix. At circuits, like Monaco, this number can increase to 4,000 times
  • The gearbox is made in carbon fibre and titanium and will reach temperatures of 150°C during a race
  • F1 brake discs can exceed temperatures of 1,000°C
  • The car will generate lateral accelerations of 5G during cornering
  • Tyres can reach temperatures of 160°C
  • A Formula One engine weighs just 95kg (the minimum weight specified by FIA Regs)
  • F1 engine is 2.4 litre 8 cylinder, rev limited to 18,000rpm for 2009 producing over 700bhp
  • Fuel is standard premium unleaded but with a compulsory bio-fuel content
  • 0 - 60mph in 2.3 seconds
  • 100mph in 3.8 seconds
  • 0mph to 100mph and back to 0mph again in 5.5 seconds
  • Top speed back to 0mph in 3 seconds
  • An F1 car will reach its top speed at Monza where the drivers will record 220mph around the track
  • The energy required to slow a car from 315kph to 185kph is the same amount needed to make an elephant jump 10 metres in the air!
  • Overall weight of car including driver, cameras and ballast is 605Kg (defined by FIA Regs)

The Driver

  • A Formula One driver burns approximately 600 calories per Grand Prix and loses on average two kilograms in weight
  • During a race, the average temperature in the cockpit will reach 50 °C
  • Drivers' heart rates reach peaks of 190 beats per minute during a Grand Prix.