The basics

What Formula 1 is, who runs it, and how a season and a race weekend fit together.

• What is Formula 1?The top level of single-seater motor racing, with 11 teams and 22 drivers racing for two world championships across a season of more than 20 Grands Prix.
• Who runs F1: the FIA, Formula 1 and the teamsThe FIA writes and enforces the rules, Formula 1 runs the business, and the teams get a say through votes and the Concorde Agreement.
• The season and the calendarAn F1 season runs from March to December with up to 24 Grands Prix around the world. Here is how the calendar is built and what happens between races.
• How a race weekend worksPractice on Friday, qualifying on Saturday and the Grand Prix on Sunday, with media day on Thursday. Sprint weekends swap things around.
• Teams and driversThere are 11 teams on the 2026 grid, each with two race drivers. How teams are organised, which engines they use, and the rules on driver numbers and changes.
• Practice sessionsFree practice is where teams set up the car and learn the tyres. What happens in FP1, FP2 and FP3, why the timesheets can mislead, and the rule on rookie running.
• Reading the timing screenWhat the gaps, intervals, sector times and colours on the F1 timing screen mean, and how to use them to follow a race or qualifying session.