The FIA Formula 1 World Championship is a type of motor racing that is one of the most popular all around the world. It is held over a series of races, which often have some of the best racing in the world. When it rains, the racing can get a little more exciting than normal because of the changes in the rules.

This video shows the weather conditions on the track during the 2017 Belgian Grand Prix which was won by Lewis Hamilton.
Race organizers had a problem to get the rain to stop, because tracks have to be as dry as possible for track safety reasons, and so they created a giant “storm” of artificial rain over the track.

As you can see the rain kept on coming for most of the race, and at the end, the sun came out and the track dried out, so the race was won by Lewis Hamilton.

Rain in F1 and Other Motorsports

Weather issues were the reason the race was postponed on the 4th of May and had the race been set to race on that date, the entire field would have been stuck on the track for several hours. Due to the rain the race was postponed to the following day for the first time since the 2008 season.

Tyres are made special due to the fact that there are many different conditions.

Why Does Formula 1 Race in the Rain?

In a race, you have to start at the back and work your way through the field. This strategy has to be based on the weather and what the other teams are doing. When the race is wet and the field is bunched up, being at the back is not such a big deal. But when the pack is spread out and the track is drying, being at the back means that nobody can attack you. If you’re in the middle of the pack, you can get an advantage because everyone else is bunched up, and the pace will be slow.

Any Problems Using Wet Tires in F1?

Wet tires are very different in design than dry tires. Their design is to allow them to run on water so they are designed to have much thicker rubber to handle the higher friction of water. They also incorporate a sponge like layer built into the tire to make it absorb the water.
Because they are designed to be very different than dry tires, it is important to change your tire type at the track to the right compound for the conditions. Doing this will save you money and help your tire last longer.

Pirelli wants to provide drivers with the best racing and safety conditions possible, so intermediate tires are an important part of that. That’s why Pirelli introduced the intermediate tire for the Singapore race, and will continue to support the sport in new and unique ways to make sure it stays on top.

Can an F1 Race be Delayed or Postponed for Rain?

The FIA is really strict about the rulebook. It’s very, very hard to postpone a race. For teams, the race schedule is pretty tight, and they need to leave the race as soon as possible, so they’re not really looking forward to postponing a race for the weather. As a result, it’s very hard to postpone a race.

Q. (Felipe Massa – Autosport) Just to clarify – the race in Austin was postponed, so the first race is now in Brazil – but Austin in no way affected the outcome of the championship.

2021 Belgian Prix at Spa Weather Incident

On lap 10, the drivers had been leading for more than 50 laps, and the team order was the only thing separating them, but a crash by Pastor Maldonado, the new race leader for Force India, caused the Safety Car to be deployed. The new rules state that a race is only counted if all three laps were run (and in this case, a Safety Car had never been deployed). The result was that, had Hamilton not made his pit stop, he would have finished first.

2022 New Rules

The first race of the season saw the drivers on the grid angered by the delays and the lack of communication between the race organizers and the F1 Commission. The delay for the race to get under way was the longest in the race’s history.

Are there Special Rules for Driving in the Rain?

Because the first few wet races had a safety car and because cars that used DRS were able to get closer to each other and could potentially crash if they crossed, the FIA decided that such a system should be disabled.

The situation where the drivers are not being consulted before making the decision to pit is not entirely uncommon, but it’s a bit more common for a team to make the decision without discussing it with the driver. In these cases, the team makes the decision and the driver then goes out and gets the tires and brings them back to the pit. There are always a few drivers who want to go out racing even if it’s raining and slick the tires are not ideal.

This doesn’t seem to apply here and the team are saying that it is a driver error. But it is not uncommon to pit early in a wet Pirelli race. This is a particularly good example where the team seems to be saying that the error was made by the drivers and not themselves.

Conclusion: Does Formula 1 Race in the Rain?

Rain is often perceived to be an equalizer for racing. There are often times when a mid-field team can jump ahead of a front-field competitor by making a late passing move in the last few laps of a race. It’s important to note that rain is mostly unpredictable. The amount of rain you get varies from race to race, making it impossible to predict how the race will play out and the outcome.