The race start in F1 is quite a systematic process with a formation lap and several other pre-race preparations happening in what is a stressful half an hour before lights go out. But who ensures this process takes place smoothly?
The FIA has a race starter for the same. This person is in charge of the entire start procedure. Currently, Rebecca Lee holds this position. Besides F1 races, Lee also oversees the starts of F2, F3, and F1 Academy races, having taken over these duties from Christian Brill in 2023.
In the process, she also became the first female race starter. While the general procedure remains similar for all categories, the race starts in junior categories are much more nerve-wracking than F1 due to inexperienced drivers.
Lee, however, did not have any interest in motorsport initially. She was working in the transport industry, where she got to make a sidestep into motorsport. That is how she got a calling for the adrenaline rush of F1.
In her initial role with the FIA, Lee worked in all aspects of track operations, including installing lights on the pit wall, coordinating with marshals on illuminating the correct lights, and waving flags. After managing various aspects of these track operations during a race, she got the chance to work on race starts.
“Originally I was there to support the guy who was doing it previously, and then eventually I ended up getting stepped up to the permanent starter,” Lee told MotorsportWeek in an exclusive last year. While the race start procedure seems simple and automated, that is far from the reality.
F1 photojournalist Kym Illman recently got a firsthand perspective of how the whole race start procedure works when he got to be in the start gantry at the Shanghai International Circuit for the sprint race last weekend.
Illman detailed all of the details he learned about how Lee handles the race start process, right from communicating with race control, the medical car, programming the lights panel, and also inspecting the cars in their grid slots. The interesting thing was that a lot of this procedure requires manual control by Lee, and there is a good reason for the same.
The intricacies of an F1 race start
Firstly, Lee and her subordinate Chris check all their equipment in the start gantry about an hour before the scheduled race start. After ensuring the track conditions are good enough, she opens the pit lane for cars to start their installation laps 40 minutes before the start time.
UPDATE
Start procedure to begin at 20:05
Pit lane opens at 20:25
Formation lap to start at 21:05#SingaporeGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/9PjmSRp4ev— Formula 1 (@F1) October 2, 2022
After these laps, though, they still have to wait in the pit lane, and 10 minutes later, Lee lets the cars come on the grid and closes the pit lane. In this final half hour, she does all the pre-requisite checks as the clock ticks down to the start time. When only five minutes are remaining, the start sequence begins with the countdown for the formation lap.
In cases where cars have an issue on the grid or the formation lap—like Lance Stroll spinning out in Sao Paulo last year—Lee can decide to have an additional formation lap or abort the start completely to begin the start sequence once again. In Sao Paulo, she did abort the start, as track marshals needed time to clear Stroll’s beached Aston Martin.
Even if the medical car, the safety car, or the medical helicopter is not ready on standby, Lee can delay the start procedure as they need these personnel to respond quickly if there are any incidents on the opening lap of the race.
Potential problems for Lando Norris
Race Control called for an “Aborted Start” following Stroll’s crash during the first formation lap which means that Norris and everyone else behind should have stayed put on the grid#F1 #BrazilGP pic.twitter.com/gDdxxha6eH
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 3, 2024
Nevertheless, when everything is in order, Lee will illuminate the five lights when the grid is set after the formation lap as she gets information on her computer panels whether all cars are in their respective slots or not.
However, the lights don’t go off automatically, as drivers can notice and pre-meditate the timing to program their mind to get off the line. Previously, race starters and the FIA have caught drivers out in doing so. That is why the race starter will randomly press a button and make the lights go off to kick off the race.
Lee also handles the finish of races
After the race is underway, Lee does a handover to the race control as they make the decisions to deploy safety cars or red flag the proceedings if any incidents occur. Then, about seven laps before the finish, Lee would go into the finish gantry, which is about 200 meters behind the start gantry near the rear of the grid.
Herein, she is often accompanied by a celebrity who is going to wave the chequered flag to signal the end of the race. She instructs the particular individual about the waving of the flag and which cars they need to wave the flag to. Because, at times, the cars can be spread out over a lap and the last car of the field may be quite close to the leader.
So, in such cases, the cars toward the rear of the field may get the chequered flag one lap earlier, even though they are yet to embark on their final lap of the race. Lee ensures such confusion doesn’t happen by informing the celebrity waving the chequered flag as the cars pass by.
