Stupid F1 question

[Charlie Spencer]

I've tried watching F1 four or five times over the last decade or so. It's been a couple of years since my last attempt, back when Speed was covering it in the US. Before I try again, I'd like to get past my largest obstacle.

How can you tell who the heck is who?

What I recall seeing is a ribbon across the top with a position and a three-letter name. I could make semi-educated guesses as to the name abbreviations, but I couldn't associate that with a car on the track or in the picture. The ribbon didn't display a car number, not that a TV viewer could spot one on the cars anyway. The ribbon doesn't identify the driver by car colors as the NASCAR broadcasts do. (Sorry, I was trying to avoid comparisons. I'll limit them to coverage issues, not the racing itself.) Colors on the ribbon aren't a great tool, but it would at least allow me to narrow down my guesses. It doesn't help that team cars often sport identical paint schemes, but I understand that's the nature of the series. But once the coverage gets past the pre-race graphics, I can't remember who's in what colors. I can't tell who I'm looking at on the screen or what position they're racing for.

When I can't tell who's who, I quickly lose interest. Any suggestions?

 

[Zerkfitting]

I don't know all the drivers, I'm a casual fan but I have learned the names of some of the top drivers. I pretty much tune in to watch a racing without any favorites. I prefer watching qualifying over the race because the qualifying has some drama and the race is pretty much over after the first turn. I just like to see the cars representing the pinnacle of racing on the track.

The pit stops drive me nuts because you can't see what they are doing with so many around the car but I guess the point is minimize the pit stop (but two team cars share one pit - that makes no sense to me). The racing stewards also drive me nuts when they affect the race, they aren't capable of resolving situations in a timely manner like they mostly do in NASCAR (but you'll probably get an argument about that in the NASCAR threads - hehe).

 

[FLRacingFan]

Black T-bar on top of the car --> team's #1 driver
Bright yellow T-bar --> team's #2 driver

 

[Charlie Spencer]

<image>

Black T-bar on top of the car --> team's #1 driver
Bright yellow T-bar --> team's #2 driver

Gracias, senor. I'll see how this looks when I print it, and how useful it is when watching on the tube. Keeping four blue Red Bull cars straight might be a challenge.

Here's the ignorant follow-up question you probably saw coming: "What's a T-bar?" My first uneducated guess is it's the little rollbar-lookin' thingie right above and behind the ****pit. If so, is that distinguishable on TV without a 72" screen?

Also, can I assume the cars don't run special or 'one off' paint schemes, that they maintain the same look every week?

 

[KevinWI]

Gracias, senor. I'll see how this looks when I print it, and how useful it is when watching on the tube. Keeping four blue Red Bull cars straight might be a challenge.

Here's the ignorant follow-up question you probably saw coming: "What's a T-bar?" My first uneducated guess is it's the little rollbar-lookin' thingie right above and behind the ****pit. If so, is that distinguishable on TV without a 72" screen?

Also, can I assume the cars don't run special or 'one off' paint schemes, that they maintain the same look every week?

Yeah, it's the little rollbar thingie. It hosts the in-car TV camera and hides all the antennas that transmit the in-car data to the paddock.

I believe teams may run different sponsors in different countries (McLaren was sponsored by Vodafone last year and for the US GP they ran Verizon logos, Vodafone owns 50% of Verizon), but the overall paintjobs have to stay the same the whole season. I believe that is in the rules.

 

[FLRacingFan]

Gracias, senor. I'll see how this looks when I print it, and how useful it is when watching on the tube. Keeping four blue Red Bull cars straight might be a challenge.

Here's the ignorant follow-up question you probably saw coming: "What's a T-bar?" My first uneducated guess is it's the little rollbar-lookin' thingie right above and behind the ****pit. If so, is that distinguishable on TV without a 72" screen?

Also, can I assume the cars don't run special or 'one off' paint schemes, that they maintain the same look every week?

Yeah, it's the camera mount on top of the car. It can be hard to distinguish when the cameras pan wide or are looking from overhead, but they're helpful for the most part. Something I did notice is that the T-bar colors for Massa and Bottas should be swapped. The helmets are probably the best identifier overall though.

One-off schemes are incredibly rare. Occasionally Red Bull runs one, like Star Wars several years back and then the Wings for Life car, but it's pretty much unheard of in F1.