F1 Qualifying

[Ford 222]

I'm from the NASCAR side but have been paying attention to and watching F1 races past couple years. Can someone explain F1 qualifying to me? I know it's where NASCAR qualifying came from but F1 seems to not be concerned about laps on tires? Do they not slow down as tires wear? Can they change them as much as they want? Is an "out lap" their coming up to speed lap or just getting things up to temp?

 

[donthaveanickname]

They have 13(?) sets of tires per weekend and they can use as much sets as they want during qualifying.

 

[Zerkfitting]

They only use 2-3 sets during a race.

 

[Marcingak]

An out lap is when they come out of the pits. The tires work best when they are warmed up so usually the first lap will be slow because the tires are not at optimal temperature yet.

 

[Ford 222]

Thank you all!

One thing, do the tires not degrade and slow the times down as they wear like in NASCAR ? When the qualify there, they try to use the tires as little as possible each session but it looks in F1 they run the entire session?

 

[donthaveanickname]

Thank you all!

One thing, do the tires not degrade and slow the times down as they wear like in NASCAR ? When the qualify there, they try to use the tires as little as possible each session but it looks in F1 they run the entire session?

Tires do degrade, but in this year 3 fast qualifying laps on one set of tires should be possible.
They of course change tires between Q1 and Q2 (and Q2 and Q3).