LB

• 000: Computer science, information, and general works
• 100: Philosophy & psychology
• 200: Religion
• 300: Social sciences
• 400: Languages
• 500: Science
• 600: Technology
• 700: Arts & recreation
• 800: Literature
• 900: History & geography

Fundamentals

• 10 teams, 20 drivers, ~24 races per year
• Points: 25 for win, 18 for 2nd, 15 for 3rd, down to 1 point for 10th
• Fastest lap gets 1 bonus point (if you finish top 10)
• Race weekend
  • Friday: practice sessions (car setup)
  • Saturday: qualifying (determines starting positions)
    • Q1: all 20 cars, slowest 5 eliminated
    • Q2: remaining 15 cars, slowest 5 eliminated
    • Q3: final 10 cars fight for pole (1st place)
  • Sunday: race (~300km or 2 hours max)
    • Hot lap: single fast lap at maximum speed for qualifying or practice times
    • Formation lap: prior to official start
    • FP: free practice
• Flags
  • Black: immediate disqualification
  • Red: immediate danger
  • White: slow-moving vehicle on the track e.g. emergency vehicle
  • Checkered: race start and end
  • Yellow: caution advised

Race Strategy

• Must use 2 different tire compounds during race
  • Soft tires: fast, high grip, fast degradation
  • Medium tires: balanced
  • Hard tires: low grip, durable
• Pit stops: change tires, refuel (takes 2-3 seconds)
• Increasing/decreasing radius (from left to right, top to bottom: increasing radius, decreasing radius, chicane, double apex, hair pin)

• Fuel conservation
• DRS (Drag Reduction System): temporary opening of rear wing up to 85mm, reducing the downforce and aerodynamic drag of car, increasing top speed up to 15 km/hr; usable only in DRS zones — usually a straight stretch; purpose is to overtake — the driver must be within a second of predecessor, may not be used within the first two laps or when raining; before the corner, the wing closes so drivers have downforce for braking zones and corners.
• Undercutting: pitting before the car(s) in front to try and gain a position, often used at tracks where overtaking is more difficult
• Overcutting: staying on the track longer than immediate rival to gain a position; increases their pace compared to a rival who has pitted and advantage if rival who's pitted cannot quickly generate tyre temperature and is slower on their out-lap
• DRS train: cars locked in a stalemate, all in DRS range but unable to progress.

Circuit Features

Glossary

• Hot track
  • Pit lane: used for maintenance of vehicles, driver changes, and other necessary actions
• Curbs
• Scraping: painted white and green, sits outside standard curbs
• Sausage: raised; longitudinal (at the exit of corners), vertices (placed inside corners), and transverse (in corner exits and chicanes)
• Debris fences
• Cold track: when the track/pit is not being used by any vehicles
• Run-off: several types of runoffs, such as grass, gravel, sand or even an added section of tarmac
• Gravel trap
• Carpets: artificial grass
• Turns
• Chicane: serpentine (tight S- or Z-) curved road
• Corkscrew: chicane with drop in elevation
• Hairpins: 180° turns
• Carousel: a circular shaped turn
• Double apex: a corner/turn that is actually two turns
• Straightaway: straight section
• Speed trap: point where top speed of the car is measured using radar
• Crest: elevation peak where road transitions from uphill to downhill
• Braking zone: track section where drivers decelerate from straight-line speed to corner entry
• Parc fermé: closed park
• Paddock: restricted area behind the pit lane and garages where teams base their operations

Components of a Racecar

Explanation

• Chassis / monocoque: shell onto which everything is bolted, composite (like spun carbon fibers set in resin or carbon fiber layered over aluminium mesh)
• Engine: 2.4L V8 engines producing nearly 900hp to be rebuilt after 500 miles because they run at nearly 19,000rpm; fuel powering it uses about 50 different fuel blends tuned for different tracks or conditions
• Pitot tubes: measures the speed of wind flowing over the top of the car.
• Transmission: transfers all of the engine's power to the rear wheels, bolted directly onto the back of the engine, includes gearbox, differential, and driveshaft:
  • The gearbox must have a minimum of four forward gears and maximum of seven gears (total number includes forward, reverse, and neutral).
  • The gearbox is connected to the differential, gears allowing the rear wheels to revolve at different speeds during cornering.
  • The differential is connected to the driveshaft, a cylindrical shaft that powers the wheels. F1 drivers shift gears using the paddles behind the wheel.
• Aerodynamics
  • Bargeboard are vertical planes and serve an aerodynamic rather than structural function, also acting as vortex generators.
  • Wings create downforce (as opposed to aircraft wings, which produce lift) to hold the car onto the track, especially during cornering.
  • Engineers in the 1970s discovered the car itself could be a giant one with an undercarriage design creating an area of low pressure that sucks the entire vehicle downward (the "ground-effect")—today the bottom of the cars must be flat from the nose cone to the rear axle line. Most cars have a diffuser, an upward-sweeping device between the engine and gearbox that creates a suction effect as it funnels air up and passes it to the rear of the car.
  • Endplates are small, flanged (has a projecting rim)

Notable

Lando Norris & Oscar Piastri Answer Formula 1 Questions: F1 drivers can detect circuits based on audio, F1 drivers can lose ~3kg after a race,

Teams (2025)

Statistics

• Finding patterns in uncertainty
• The central limit theorem emerges from calculus (as sample size approaches infinity, distributions converge to predictable shapes)
• Everything measurable varies (e.g. temperature, stock prices)

Calculus

Tracking continuous infinitesimal change (and rates of change?) to find totals (integrals) or instantaneous rates (derivatives)

• Function: Consistent rule mapping inputs to outputs
• Given f(x) = 3x - 5, calculate f(2) = 3(2) - 5 = 1
• The function value at x = 2 is 1. f(2) = 1.
• Derivative: Instantaneous rate of change
• Integrals: Area under curves, accumulation

Linear Algebra

Mapping transformations between spaces