Formula 1 race weekends consist of two 90-minute practice sessions on Friday, a 60-minute practice session on Saturday morning, and a qualifying session on Saturday afternoon, all leading up the Grand Prix on Sunday.

If you’re not a very keen follower of F1, you might skip these practice sessions and just watch qualifying and the race, or more likely just the race itself. This seems fair though, because these practice sessions can seem boring if you do not understand what is going on behind the scenes.

On the surface, these sessions seem to be an hour or so of random running with very few fans around and commentators drinking tea whilst discussing the latest paddock gossip.

However, from an engineer’s point of view, practice sessions can be the most useful time throughout the weekend, as they allow teams time to set up the car according to the specifications of each race track thus optimising qualifying and race performance.

Furthermore, utilising these practice sessions to test new updates and upgrades to various elements of the car can be a significant contributing factor in their development throughout the season.

So what exactly happens in these practice sessions?

Fire-Up, Shakedown, and Installation Lap

All practices begin with a fire-up and shakedown in the garage. During this time, a host of reliability parameters are checked to identify any faulty components on the car before it can be declared operational.

The engineers will look at the data from different systems on the car such as electronics, pressures, temperatures and fuel flows to make sure everything is switched on, accurately calibrated, and ready to hit the track.

After completing the shakedown, the car leaves the pits to do an installation lap. This is where the driver takes the car out on track for one lap to test functions such as throttle, brakes and steering before heading back to the pits without crossing the finish line.

During this lap, engineers on the pit wall ask their driver to execute specific procedures to verify that all systems and sensors are ready for a full free practice.

Free Practices

All teams and engineers come into a practice session with a checklist of operations to execute, which usually includes track-specific mechanical setup, low-fuel qualifying runs and high-fuel race simulations, as well as testing of tyres and any new or upgraded parts added to the car that weekend.

During the first practice session on Friday morning, a baseline setup is defined using data from previous visits to the track and simulator data from the factory as a reference point for testing car performance.

Setup styles are dependent on the characteristics of the track: low downforce (Monza) vs. high downforce (Monaco); fast corners (Istanbul Park) vs. slow corners (Hungaroring); flowing esses (Silverstone) vs. abrupt chicanes and hairpins (Canada).

After completing the initial setup, a team might want to carry out component testing. This means various springs and dampers will be used and replaced on the cars, and the performance corresponding to these changes will be analysed.

Engineers will work on fine tuning and optimizing the handling characteristics of the car with real time feedback from the driver. This includes optimizing mechanical and aerodynamic grip, gearing, adjusting aero balance, spring rates, dampers, spring bias, documenting temperatures, tyre and fuel pressures and so on.

Typically, during the second practice session on the Friday afternoon, teams will opt to carry out race simulation i.e. simulating and optimising the car for the Grand Prix. This means carrying a heavy fuel load and focusing on reliability and durability. During ‘race runs’, the cars will stay out on track for longer periods of time putting in very similar and consistent lap times whilst the engineers monitor car performance and tyre degradation.

The third and final practice session is generally used as a practice for qualifying, which takes place two hours later. Here, the goal is to get the absolute most out of the car over a single flying-lap, rather than focusing on reliable long-run pace.

To go faster, everything needs to be lighter. So in this session, the fuel load is as light as possible, the softest tyre compound is in use, mechanical components are at their lightest and most performance-focused and the engine is running on the highest power mode.

Whilst this is the general scheme for practice sessions, things do not always go according to plan. It is also generally wise and practical to be efficient with practice time by prioritising tasks.

If the car lacks pace to fight for pole and reliability is a concern, the team’s engineers might run fewer qualifying simulations and opt for more long runs to make sure the car is set up properly so it can finish the Grand Prix.

Throughout these three practice sessions, the most important task is to learn as much as you can from the car’s behaviour on track, so you can ensure the best result possible on Sunday.

Hopefully the next time you watch F1 practice sessions, you will have a better understanding and appreciation of what is happening behind the scenes.

The first practice session of the Bahrain GP weekend is Friday at 12:00 (BST). Follow the coverage on @essaarLIVE.