Reference
F1 glossary: 50 Formula 1 terms explained
The words you'll hear on team radio, on TV and across this site, in plain English, from A to Z.
- Active aero
- From 2026, front and rear wing flaps that switch between a high-downforce corner mode and a low-drag straight mode. Replaced DRS. See the 2026 rules.
- Apex
- The innermost point of a driver's line through a corner.
- Blistering
- Overheating that makes chunks of tyre rubber bubble and break away.
- Blue flag
- Tells a driver to let a faster, lapping car past. See flags explained.
- Boost
- Using stored battery energy for extra power, anywhere on the lap.
- Box
- Radio call telling a driver to come into the pits this lap.
- Clipping
- When the car runs low on electrical energy towards the end of a straight and loses speed.
- Compound
- How soft or hard a tyre's rubber is. Softer is faster but wears out sooner.
- Constructor
- A team that builds its own car. The constructors' championship adds up both drivers' points.
- Countback
- The tie-break when drivers finish on equal points: most wins, then most second places, and so on.
- Degradation (deg)
- How much slower a tyre gets each lap as it wears.
- Delta
- A time difference, such as the minimum lap time drivers must stay above under a virtual safety car.
- Dirty air
- Turbulent air behind a car that reduces the grip of the car following it.
- DNF
- Did not finish: the driver retired from the race.
- DRS
- Drag Reduction System: the rear-wing flap used for overtaking from 2011 to 2025, replaced by active aero and overtake mode.
- DSQ
- Disqualified: removed from the results, for example for a technical infringement found after the race.
- Fastest lap
- The quickest single lap of the race. It earned a bonus point from 2019 to 2024.
- Formation lap
- The slow lap before the start, used to warm tyres and brakes.
- Graining
- Small pieces of rubber that tear off and stick to the tyre surface, costing grip until they wear away.
- Grid penalty
- Places a driver is moved back from their qualifying position, for example for extra engine parts.
- Harvesting
- Recovering energy into the battery, mainly under braking.
- Hot lap / push lap
- A flat-out lap, usually in qualifying.
- In-lap / out-lap
- The lap into the pits, and the first lap after leaving them.
- Intermediates
- Green-marked tyres for a damp track or light rain.
- Lift and coast
- Lifting off the throttle before the braking point to save fuel, brakes or energy.
- Lollipop
- The sign once held in front of the car at a pit stop; now mostly replaced by traffic lights.
- Marbles
- Small balls of worn rubber that collect off the racing line and make it slippery.
- Medium
- The middle of the three dry compounds at a race, marked yellow.
- Overcut
- Staying out longer than a rival before pitting, to gain a place. See tyres and strategy.
- Overtake mode
- From 2026, extra electrical energy for a driver within one second of the car ahead at the detection point.
- Parc fermé
- Rules that stop teams changing the car's set-up between qualifying and the race.
- Pit window
- The range of laps when stopping makes strategic sense.
- Pole position
- First place on the starting grid, earned by the fastest time in Q3.
- Power unit
- The whole engine package: the turbo V6, the electric motor, battery and control electronics.
- Q1, Q2, Q3
- The three knockout parts of qualifying. See how qualifying works.
- Race pace
- A driver's typical speed over a race, without pit stops and safety car laps. See race pace explained.
- Safety car
- A road car that leads the field at reduced speed while an incident is cleared.
- Sector
- One of three timed parts of a lap. A purple sector is the fastest of anyone; green is a driver's personal best.
- Slipstream (tow)
- The low-drag pocket of air behind another car, which helps the car following on straights.
- Soft
- The fastest and least durable of the three dry compounds at a race, marked red.
- Sprint
- A 100 km Saturday race on six weekends a season, with points for the top eight. See sprint weekends.
- Stint
- The laps a driver completes on one set of tyres.
- Stewards
- The officials who investigate incidents and give penalties.
- Straight mode
- The low-drag active aero setting used on designated straights.
- Time penalty
- Seconds added to a driver's race time, or served at their next pit stop: usually 5 or 10 seconds.
- Track evolution
- The track getting faster during a session as rubber is laid down.
- Track limits
- The white lines at the edge of the track. Running fully beyond them can mean a deleted lap or a penalty.
- Undercut
- Pitting before a rival so fresh tyres help you jump ahead when they stop.
- Virtual safety car (VSC)
- A neutralised race without a physical safety car: every driver must keep to a minimum lap time.
- Wets
- Blue-marked tyres for heavy rain.
Share
