Formula 1 Timing Screens Explained

Formula One Cars.

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01
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F1 Practice Timing Screen

Graphic image screenshot (c) Formula One Management Ltd.

At the start of the practice sessions on Friday and Saturday at a Grand Prix race, the cars appear on the screen in the order of the number of the car. When they leave the pit lane, they are shown in the order in which they leave. When they record a lap time, they appear in the order of the lap time, with the fastest lap at the top of the time screen. The drivers' names are abbreviated, on the left.

02
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Qualifying Timing Screens

Graphic image screenshot (c) Formula One Management Ltd.

Part 1 (Q1)

Screen 1 starts by showing all of the cars in the order of their numbers with the words IN PIT in the most recent lap time column. When they record a lap time they are put into the order of their lap time with the fastest at the top of the list.

Part 2 (Q2)

Lap and sector times for drivers eligible to take part in Q2 are put back into number order.

Drivers not eligible to take part in Q2 keep their lap and sector and remain in Q1 order. Their names and racing numbers turn grey.

The drivers taking part in the session are put into performance order as soon as they set a lap time.

Part 3 (Q3)

Lap and sector times for drivers eligible to take part in Q3 are put back into number order.

Drivers not eligible to take part in Q3 keep their lap and sector and remain in Q2 order. Their names and racing numbers turn grey.

At the end of Q3, the timing information screen shows the final qualifying session classification.

03
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Screens by number: Screen 1

Graphic image screenshot (c) Formula One Management Ltd.

Screen 1 starts showing all the cars in grid order with the words IN PIT in the lap time column.

During the first lap, the screen updates the order as the cars cross the first intermediate position of the three timing and speed locations known as Intermediate 1, Intermediate 2 and the Start/Finish line.

As each car crosses the Start/Finish line its number and driver's name is shown in white. When the leader crosses the Start/Finish line all other names go yellow. When the car leaves the pits, the word OUT is shown in the most recent lap time column, and the duration of the pit stop appears in the last sector column.

Colors

Yellow Standard

Red Exiting and entering the pits. Leaving the pits, it remains in red until the car goes through the first sector.

White The most recent reading available

Green Best for the driver

Magenta Overall best in the session. Individual sector times and speeds, and lap times.

Column Descriptions

Position The classification of the car in the session. After the first 10 laps, the position of any driver who has not completed 90% of the distance covered by the leader does not appear.

Fastest lap time Fastest time for the driver in the session, in white

STOP Appears in place of the sector information when a car does not complete that sector, indicating the car has probably stopped on the circuit.

Most recent lap time As the car passes the Start/Finish line, the time for the lap just completed is shown.

A line showing the personal best in each sector for that car is displayed in yellow after the car has been in the pits for 15 seconds.

Lap count The number of laps started by the driver.

Time behind the car in front Difference between the driver and the man above the last time they crossed the Start/Finish line.

Pit stop count Number of pit stops by that driver

04
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Screens by Number: Screen 2

Graphic image screenshot (c) Formula One Management Ltd.

Screen 2 is made up of two sections. The top is a scrolling area displaying a full lap of timing data for each car every time it crosses the finish line; the bottom section shows the top six positions from the two intermediate timing points, the finish line and a fourth location on the circuit (usually the fastest part).

Scrolling Area

The top half of Screen 2 shows the sector time and speed information as well as the lap time for each car as it crosses the Control/Finish Line. It also shows the speed achieved through the additional speed trap by the car on that particular lap, the number of laps completed and the time difference between cars.

FLAG This will be shown under the lap time column to indicate that the session has ended and the checkered flag has been shown.

Blank line Generated when the timing systems are prepared for Q2 and Q3, prior to the start of these sessions.

Speed Classification Area

The bottom half of Screen 2 shows the current top six speeds for the session at each of the intermediate positions, the Start/Finish line and the speed trap together with an abbreviation of the driver's name to which the speed relates. The speeds are shown in kilometers per hour, as always in F1.

Practice and Qualifying

During practice and qualifying sessions, this area of the screen will also show three pieces of information about the competing cars.

On Track Indicates the number of cars that are currently on the circuit.

In Pits the number of cars currently in the pits.

Stopped The number of cars stopped somewhere on the circuit.

05
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Screen 3: Race Control Messages

Graphic image screenshot (c) Formula One Management Ltd.

Screen 3 has the same format for all sessions and is made up of two parts.

Race Control Messages

The top half shows messages sent directly from Race Control along with the time each message was sent. The list of messages scrolls upwards so that the most recent message is always shown at the bottom. The most recent message is displayed in magenta for one minute after which it will revert to yellow.

These messages are used to inform everyone about the status of a session (e.g. Delayed Start, Chequered Flag, Red Flag, etc.) and any additional information Race Control wishes to convey (e.g. car 7 stopped at turn 10).

Weather Information

The bottom half of Screen 3 shows weather information and is split into three sections.

The section on the left shows a map of the circuit with an arrow pointing in the direction in which the wind is blowing. The map is orientated such that the top of the screen is north.

The central section contains a graph showing the weather data collected over the previous three hours. This graph will change every few seconds to show, sequentially: Temperature both the track and air temperatures in degrees Celsius; Wet/Dry the prevailing track condition (wet or dry); Wind speed the wind speed in meters per second; Humidity the relative humidity; Pressure the atmospheric pressure in millibars. The section on the right shows the most recent weather readings.

06
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Practice Sessions: Screen 4

Graphic image screenshot (c) Formula One Management Ltd.

Practice

This shows similar information to Screen 1 but sector times are to the tenth of a second. The colors and functions are similar to Screen 1. When cars are in the pit lane, the car number is shown in red.

07
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Screen 4 During Qualifying

Graphic image screenshot (c) Formula One Management Ltd.

Part 1 (Q1)

At the beginning of qualifying, Screen 4 appears with the cars in the order of their numbers. When they record a lap time they are put into the order of their performance.

Part 2 (Q2)

Before Q2 drivers eligible to take part have their lap and sector times removed and are put back into number order. They keep their lap count from Q1 and their Q1 lap time remains in the appropriate column.

Drivers who are not eligible to take part in Q2 keep their lap and sector times and they remain in the Q1 order, their names colored grey.

Cars remain number order until they set a lap time when they are put into performance order.

Part 3 (Q3)

Drivers taking part in Q3 have their lap and sector times removed and put back into number order. They retain their lap count from Q2 and their lap time remains in the appropriate column.

Drivers not in Q3 keep their lap and sector times and remain in the order in which they were in at the end of Q2, their names colored in gray.

At the end of Q3, the screen shows the drivers in qualifying classification order and their fastest lap times from each part of the session.

08
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Race

Graphic image screenshot (c) Formula One Management Ltd.

During the race, Screen 4 shows the drivers in the order of their classification and contains gap, interval, sector times (to tenths of a second), the most recent lap times and the number of pit stops.

09
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Overall best times and speeds

Graphic image screenshot (c) Formula One Management Ltd.

This line appears at the top of Screen 1 and indicates the overall best time and speed for each sector. The total of these sector times shows the ideal lap time. The line continually alternates between the time and speed information and an abbreviation of the name of the driver who set the time. The sector information appears in magenta with the ideal lap time in yellow.