Do Formula One teams use a different car from week to week?

Question

Do Formula One teams use a different car from week to week?

Answer 1

a few years ago, they'd even have a different engine during practice, then a qualifying engine, and then a race engine. but regulations were put in place to cut costs and it mandated that engines have to last 2 full race weekends except in circumstances where the engine fails through no fault of the team or driver, then they can replace it for the next race without penalty. however, if the engine fails within the same weekend, then the driver would have to take a 10-place starting grid penalty.



teams also would introduce aerodynamic parts specific to each race, to cater to the track configuration. usually its small winglets that most casual fans fail to notice, sometimes its as radical as a different front wing.



so technically, its the same car but the way F1 cars are built, they can make subtle changes to it from race to race without radically having to change the entire car

Answer 2

I can't really see having two or more chassis being justified. While there may be an advantage for them to do so, aerodynamics and testing mileage are more important. As there are limits on testing mileage (30,000 km per team), it would be a disadvantage for them to use some of that mileage on a chassis that may only be used for 2 or 3 races, and that chassis would have to have it's own aerodynamic package. I don't know of any team using a previous years chassis when they have the latest chassis available.

Answer 3

No, it's the same car each week. They have to fly it across the world to races

Answer 4

I had read that in F1 unless they crash or have an equipment failure they use one chassis (ie body) until it breaks, problems are detected with it during testing or it crashes while changing the engine every 2 races and the gearbox every 4 races. They can also replace all of the others parts on that chassis as they want (ie suspension, wheels, etc)



I thought there was a rule in F1 that a driver must race the same chassis as they qualified in or else they have to start from the pit road (basically last place)



They do not have different chassis for different races the way that nascar does because they want the chassis to be as identical as possible so that if they crash/break one chassis they use the same settings on a replacement chassis.



Plus, I thought I read in an old article about the jaguar team (now defunct) that a team usually only builds/buys 5 identical chassis (ie body/frame only) for the entire season and only assembles 3 complete cars at one time. They bring 3 assembled cars and the parts for a fourth car to each race.



In fact, I thought there was a time many years when the ferrari team had a 3 rd driver testing in their 3rd assembled car crash during testing the friday before a race, then Michael Schumacher (main driver) crashed his car during qualifying so Schumacher then raced his co-driver's car (rubens barrichello) and rubens had to race the fourth car that was hastily assembled overnight before the race.



I have also heard that the really underfunded teams like Jordan or minardi in the past or super aguri in the present may only have a total of 3 assembled cars so if one driver crashes he gets the 3 rd car and if the other driver crashed he is out of luck.

Answer 5

As of this year each team has 1 car per driver, the enging has to last 2 races & the gearbox has to last 4.

The only time that a driver can change his car is if he rights it off when hitting either another car or crashing & then the car has to have the old engin & gear box.



I hope this helps.

Answer 6

Not 100% positive, but it depends on which tracks are up on the schedule. Each team usually has cars that are designated high downforce, for tracks with lots of low to medium speed corners (like Monaco), cars that are set up for more top speed for tracks with longer straights and higher speeds, and then cars for tracks in the middle. It's very doubtful they'd use the same car at Monaco that they would at Imola.

Answer 7

They have to use different parts a different amount of times, like the engine has to last 2 races and I think the gearbox 4. But I doubt they use different chassis, and Super Aguiri could hardly afford a different car every week.

Answer 8

I read somewhere that some of the more funded teams build around 8 to 12 chassis for a particular model year and these are used throughout the year. 3 are taken to every track (2 + 1 spare). Some are used for testing purposes back at the factory by the test drivers.



They don't use different chassis for different tracks like they do in NASCAR.

Answer 9

No they don't but they should just to piss off the environmentalists.

Answer 10

F1 teams use exactly the same car all season in the sense that they use the same carbon fibre 'tub' chassis unless it gets damaged in a crash.



But everything unbolts on a racing car and all the bits they hang on the tub, pretty well all the bits you can see - the wings and all the funny vanes, the suspension and the wheels and the brakes - get changed from race to race either because they've used up their servicable life or because the team has designed a better version.

Answer 11

I think they generally just use the same one unless it has such a bad accident or problem that it can't be raced. I guess you could say they're not as "disposable" as stock cars because teams can't afford another $20 million per car every weekend. In comparison, stock cars cost around $120,000 so their teams can afford different cars for different tracks (ie, roadcourses versus ovals).

Answer 12

no they fly the car around the world