It’s lights out and away we go! Or not quite yet. Even though the Formula 1 season begins this March, that doesn’t mean that you’re too late to join the fandom. It can get a bit hard because you are trying to learn the rules and how everything works– trust me, I’ve been in those shoes.
Here is a quick little guide to help you out a bit this F1 season.
Drivers and Teams
Last year’s season and the years before, there have always been 10 teams with 20 drivers. Coming into this 2026 season, there are 11 teams with 22 drivers. Each team has two drivers, from World Champions to now second-year starters.
Each team is competing to win the F1 Teams’ Championship, all while the drivers are competing to win the F1 Drivers’ Championship.
Race Testing and Races
A month before the race season begins, there’s a preseason testing that takes place, then almost a month later, the F1 season begins. Like the 2026 season pre-testing, it was held in Bahrain.
The races happen in around 21 countries across five continents, with a total of 24 races. There are classic circuits along with recent additions. The very first F1 season began back in 1950; to this day, races are still presented in those same locations.
This new season, a new track has been added to the list, which is Madrid, Spain.
Race Weekends
The Formula 1 Grand Prix weekend is in the span of three days, typically from Friday through Sunday. There are also some weekends when there will be a Sprint Race.
With Sprint Races, that can alter the race weekend a bit, but it also follows the same structure as a Grand Prix Race, with a Qualifying session. On Fridays, there are two Free Practices (FP1 and FP2) that take about an hour.
Saturdays begin with a last hour-long third Free Practice (FP3). Later on Saturday, there is the Qualifying (Q) round. There are three stages of the Qualifying round: Q1, Q2, and Q3. These three rounds are to determine who will take Pole Position, which means who will start from the front of the grid in Sunday’s race. Sundays are where the excitement and stress begin. A Grand Prix’s distance is at a minimum of 305 kilometers, and the number of laps varies from each location.
Points System
The team’s champions are determined by the points that the drivers earn during the race. From each F1 Grand Prix race, 1st place gets 25 points.
Since there are 10 teams, there are places. In 2nd place, the points they receive are 18 points, but the number of points goes lower until 10th place, which only receives 1 point.
There are also points that each team wins when it comes to the Sprint Races. With 1st place earning 8 points, it goes all the way down to 8th place earning 1 point.
F1 Tyres
The F1 tyres used during the practices and races are manufactured by Pirelli, an Italian firm. Each of the drivers during the Grand Prix weekend gets 13 sets of dry-weather tyres, along with four sets of intermediates and three sets of full wets.
There is also an extra set of soft tyres reserved for the drivers who reach Q3 in the Qualifying round. In the Sprint race, the sets of 13 are reduced to 12 sets.
The F1 world is very interesting and is also starting to grow a following in the United States. It may take some time to understand the sport, but once you get the groove of things, it becomes easier.
Are you interested in F1, or do you already watch it? Let us know @HerCampusSJSU!