F1 words, explained

Every Formula 1 word you hear on TV, from undercut to Overtake Mode, in one plain sentence each. Updated for the 2026 rules.

Undercut: Pitting before the car ahead so your fresh tyres let you lap faster and come out in front after they stop.
Overcut: Staying out longer than the car ahead and using clear track to build enough time to stay in front after your own stop.
Tyre compounds: Pirelli brings three dry tyres to each race: Soft (red) is fastest but wears quickly, Medium (yellow) sits in between, Hard (white) is slowest but lasts longest.
Intermediates and wets: Grooved rain tyres: green intermediates for a damp track, blue full wets for heavy rain.
Degradation: How quickly a tyre loses grip and the car gets slower lap after lap; "high deg" means more pit stops.
Stint: The run of laps a driver does on one set of tyres, between the start or a pit stop and the next stop.
Pit window: The range of laps in which a pit stop makes sense for the strategy without losing too much time.
Pit stop: A stop in the pit lane to change tyres; it costs roughly 18 to 25 seconds depending on the track, most of it driving slowly through the pit lane.
Safety Car: A car that leads the field at reduced speed after a crash or danger on track, bunching everyone up and making a pit stop cheaper.
Virtual Safety Car: Every driver must slow to a set speed at the same time without bunching up, so gaps stay roughly the same.
Red flag: The session is stopped and all cars return to the pit lane, usually after a big crash or bad weather.
Overtake Mode: New for 2026: a driver within about one second of the car ahead gets extra electric power to attack, replacing the old DRS.
Boost: New for 2026: a button that releases stored battery energy for extra speed anywhere on the lap, to attack or defend.
Active aero: New for 2026: the front and rear wings change angle during the lap, flat for speed on straights and steep for grip in corners.
Straight Mode: The low-drag wing setting all cars use on marked straights for higher top speed; the car switches back to Corner Mode before braking.
Corner Mode: The normal high-downforce wing setting that presses the car into the track for grip through corners.
Recharge: Harvesting energy into the battery under braking or lifting off the throttle, so it can be used again for Boost or Overtake Mode.
DRS (until 2025): The old opening rear-wing flap for overtaking; from 2026 it no longer exists and Overtake Mode plus active aero took its place.
Delta: The time difference between two laps or two drivers at the same point; plus means slower, minus means faster.
Gap and interval: Gap is the time to the race leader; interval is the time to the car directly in front.
Sector: Each lap is split into three timed parts, so you can see where on the track a driver is faster or slower.
Pole position: First place on the starting grid, earned by the fastest lap in qualifying.
Fastest lap: The quickest single lap of the race; since 2025 it no longer earns a championship point.
Qualifying: The timed session that sets the starting grid, in three knock-out rounds: Q1, Q2 and Q3.
Parc fermé: From qualifying until the race the cars are locked under rules, so teams may not change the set-up.
Sprint: A short Saturday race of about 100 km at six weekends a year, with points for the top eight.
Grid penalty: A driver has to start further back than where they qualified, often for using too many engine parts.
Track limits: Cars must keep at least part of the car within the white lines; laps over the limit are deleted and repeat offences bring penalties.
Dirty air: Turbulent air behind a car that cuts the grip of the car following it, making it hard to stay close in corners.
Team orders: Instructions from the team telling one driver to let the team-mate past or hold position.
Time penalty: Seconds added to a driver’s race time or served at a pit stop, for things like causing a crash or speeding in the pit lane.
Race pace: How fast a car is over many laps with heavy fuel and worn tyres, which matters more on Sunday than one quick lap.
DNS: "Did not start": the driver was entered but did not take the start, for example after a crash in practice or a problem on the way to the grid.
DNF: "Did not finish": the driver retired from the race, for example after a crash or a technical failure.
Constructors: The teams that build the cars; the constructors’ championship adds up the points of both cars of each team.
Podium: The first three finishers of a race, who stand on the podium to get their trophies.
Stewards: The race referees: a panel of four who judge incidents and hand out penalties, published as FIA documents.
Grand Prix: One race weekend of the championship and the main Sunday race in it, named after the country or city that hosts it.
Classified: A driver is classified, and can score points, when they complete at least 90% of the winner’s laps, even if they did not reach the finish.
Provisional: Not final yet: the stewards can still change places and points with penalties after the race.