What is Filming Day in F1?

Ahead of every new season in F1, the main focus for every team lies in maximizing the performance of their respective cars. The engineers and mechanics work hard in the factories in the off-season but it is tough to figure out whether the car is good enough without seeing it run on the track.

Approximately a month before an F1 season starts, all the teams take to a racing circuit, where they test their cars out. This is different to pre-season testing and is officially called a shakedown. Ahead of the 2023 season, the first outfit to send their car out to the track was Haas who tested their VF-23 Silverstone earlier this week.

Having a shakedown is optional, but most teams do prefer having one before revealing their actual cars during the pre-season test. During these shakedowns, the team also holds what people in F1 call a ‘filming day’. As the name suggests, a filming day is where the teams take the opportunity to get new pictures of the car ahead of the upcoming season.

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What can F1 teams do on filming day?

Today, teams prefer to term use the shakedown as a filming day because it allows them to test a car out ahead of pre-season testing. However, there are very strict rules that the teams have to adhere to during these promotional events. A driver can’t just take a brand new challenger out to the track and gather data by running 100 laps around a circuit for one whole week.

According to Article 10.4 of the FIA Sporting Regulations, each team is allowed to have two filming days throughout the season. The rule also states that the teams can only drive up to 100 km on these days, which means that they choose their circuits accordingly to get more laps under their belt.

On top of that, the teams can’t try out new power unit components or tires during these events. They have to use the standard FIA ECU and also make do with a specific set of tires handed over to them by Pirelli.

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How do teams shoot footage of their cars?

Ahead of every new campaign, we all love tuning into social media and having a look at the cars out on track. However, what many fans don’t know is that there are rules regarding the videography that goes into filming as well.

There are at most two filming cars which follow the new Formula 1 car. They have machines fitted into them to capture the car from different angles as per sponsorship & the team’s requirement.

Some teams take videos of their cars during shakedowns and upload them on social media. However, a lot of them prefer to have this in secrecy so that they can prepare for the actual pre-season test in a few weeks.