5 - F1 facts you may not know.

 

Formula 1 cars are work of art.

They have had some of the loudest, most powerful engines ever seen and grip levels unheard of anywhere else. The car can turn, squeeze and literally just manipulate normal air to make the car go faster than anyone around the corners. Whoever does the best gets to spray the elusive champagne on the top of that podium... they are engineering genius at it's brilliant best.

1. EACH CAR IS MADE UP OF EIGHTY THOUSAND SEPARATE COMPONENTS

No wonder drivers say they always feel guilty upon crashing the car, those poor mechanics have to replace and reinstall countless different gizmos, wires and parts.

An F1 car is an extremely compressed cocktail of hydraulic systems, carbon, fuel, tyres, inertia and mechanical devices which all has to package into a minimum of 720KG. That's why you can see so many bits hanging out or exposed after (a usually very expensive) crash; one slight misjudgement of the braking zone and the house of cards can come crashing down around you.

2. AN F1 CAR CAN GO FROM 0-100MPH AND BACK DOWN TO 0 IN AS LITTLE AS 4 SECONDS

It's simply a testament to how incredibly developed the gearbox, ERS battery system, engines and driveshafts all are to efficiently deploy the heaps of energy generated from the car into the wheels and make it go fast.

3. BRAKES IN AN F1 CAR CAN REACH 1000*C AND STILL WORK FINE

It's often said braking late in an F1 car is one of the most important skills to have; drivers like Ayrton Senna, Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo all have it, but it's thanks to these incredible mechanisms that they're able to do so.

4. DRIVERS CAN LOSE UP TO 6KG DURING THE SINGAPORE GP

Because it's so intensely hot in Singapore the cockpit can get up to 60*C and drivers only have a limited amount of water they can drink during the race, therefore purely through dehydration and sweating they can lose huge amounts of weight in no time. The race is long, very technical and set in a street circuit so it is a huge test of physical and mental capacity for the drivers to simply keep the car on the road.

5. ONE F1 CAR WOULD COST YOU $7M TO MAKE

It's the world's most expensive sport.

And simply building a car to start the grid with costs you a monstrous amount; a front wing (which is only really a sculpted piece of carbon fiber) starts at £150,000. 5 times the average yearly salary for the UK.