Rookie F1

Lock Up

The moment when a tyre begins to skid under braking.

Marshall

An official who oversees the race and ensure the safety of everyone there. A variety of roles can be attributed to them; looking after the spectators, fire wardens, helping get cars and drivers off the track after an incident. They’re also the ones waving the flags along the circuit.

Massively Wet

When it’s not wet, really wet or even very wet, you can then describe the weather in this way. First used by Lewis Hamilton, Spa 2011.

Monocoque

This is where the cockpit is located; the engine is fixed in behind it and the front suspension system is on either side at the front. And on top of that; it’s a funny word. See also: Cockpit.

Multi 21

Red Bull code for holding station, the numbers refer to the car. But henceforce shall be a retort for someone who does something that pisses you off. First used in Malaysia by Mark Webber in 2013.

Oversteer

This is when the car’s rear end doesn’t want to go around a corner; it tries to overtake the front end as the driver turns into the apex. This can be corrected with opposite-lock; where the driver turns the front wheels into the skid. See also: Understeer.

Paddles

These are levers that feature on both sides of the steering wheel with which the driver changes gear (up and down). It eliminates the need to take a hand off of the steering wheel…and otherwise referred to, by the Top Gear lads, as a ‘flappy paddle gearbox’.

Paddock

A sacred ground behind the pit lane where the teams keep their transporters and the infamous motor homes. With no public access it’s the ideal place for a driver to chill out if he finishes the race a bit early…

Parc ferme

After qualifying the cars are parked in a fenced off area where it’s hands off. Team members aren’t allowed near the cars except under the strict supervision of race stewards; an any big changes here will incur a grid penalty.

Phenomenal:

Used to describe various things, a popular word down at Red Bull: “2010 was phenomenal for us…” – Christian Horner

Pit board

This is the large black board you see poking out in the start/finish straight; all the information a driver needs features on here, race position, time interval of the car ahead/behind and the number of laps left. Driver’s now don’t just have a pit board to rely on; as they have a radio link to their race engineer throughout the race. But with technology comes problems like broken transmissions etc, so the pit board will be here to stay.

The bank of pitboards

Pit wall

This is where you find the team owner, managers and engineers. This is a hub of activity over the weekend; mission control essentially. They monitor the driver, relay information and discuss strategy for the race.

Pits

This is an area of the track separated from the start/finish straight by a wall; the cars are brought in (under instruction or necessity), for new tyres or replacement body parts. During practice they can come on for set-up changes to ensure they’re going into the race with the best possible car. Regulation changes have stopped refueling during the race; so now the ideal situation is to come into the pits once for the necessary tyre change.

Protest

The team can lodge a complaint when they feel another team or driver has transgressed the rules. Just as common as appealing. See also: Appeal.