Can F1 be held during winter?

[CHT]

Is it physically possible for F1 race to be held during cold winter season? Will it be too cold for the drivers or too slippery for the tyres due to the lack of heat?

[Holm86]

Is it physically possible for F1 race to be held during cold winter season? Will it be too cold for the drivers or too slippery for the tyres due to the lack of heat?

F1 moves all around the world. So they could run all year without having to run in cold weather.

But yes they could run at a cold track. If its not freezing I suppose. Its just a matter of them not being able to get the most out of the tires. But again thats just a question of tire design. You could have cold tires then with a much softer compound.

[astracrazy]

and who wants to watch a race in the freezing cold when they can come back 6 months later and its hot

[SectorOne]

Is it physically possible for F1 race to be held during cold winter season? Will it be too cold for the drivers or too slippery for the tyres due to the lack of heat?

You could have issues with black ice and regular ice etc.
If you are going to race during the winter months it´s better to go down to middle east, south africa or south america to race.

[RicerDude]

Wouldn't their hands get really cold in a 200mph freezing wind? I can't imagine fireproof gloves insulate that well. I mean my hands get pretty cold just riding my bike in the winter.

[astracrazy]

1 + would be the engines would scream (or at least the V8s would of)

[Sebp]

There's always this for winter racing:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEoEu8Zz1dc[/youtube]

[Lycoming]

With studded tires, anything is possible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luBIaBXM4iU

On a marginally more serious note, not all places on earth have what you'd call a winter season, complete with subzero temperatures and snow. 12 hours of sebring runs during winter (at least what google calls winter), for example.

Wouldn't their hands get really cold in a 200mph freezing wind? I can't imagine fireproof gloves insulate that well. I mean my hands get pretty cold just riding my bike in the winter.

Why wouldn't fireproof gloves insulate well? They're designed to protect you from fire, which is a slightly different temperature from what human flesh should ideally be. Besides, the cockpit of an F1 car is usually a pretty toasty place and they be active while driving, which helps circulation to the extremities. It wouldn't be that bad.

@OP:

standard tires will struggle to develop temperature on tracks, even just above freezing. I suspect that they would tend to understeer on entry and oversteer on exit, less because of car balance and more because there's just no grip. of course, studded tires solve all problems, except for that of the angry circuit owner with a repair bill after you tear up his asphalt race track.

[Sebp]

at least what google calls winter

All depends on how much of a northern hemisphere chauvinist you are, I guess.

[MOWOG]

I think an F1 race at Bathurst outside of Sydney Australia in January would be awesome!

[Kai]

I think an F1 race at Bathurst outside of Sydney Australia in January would be awesome!

I would love this so much.

[humble sabot]

dumb question: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... uBIaBXM4iU[/youtube]

[Slife]

They are having F1E during the offseason of F1 so that includes the winter. I imagine it must be fairly cold in Beijing.

[andylaurence]

On the subject of driver warmth, I had the pleasure of my first two races this year being in the snow and the third at about 2 degrees, albeit sunny. It's the first time I've been cold whilst competing and I had numb hands when I returned to the paddock. Nomex is a superb insulator as it has to be to protect from fire, but that also means it's great to wear to keep warm in winter. It's got limits though! I wore a jacket over my race suit in the paddock, which isn't normally required.

[CHT]

On the subject of driver warmth, I had the pleasure of my first two races this year being in the snow and the third at about 2 degrees, albeit sunny. It's the first time I've been cold whilst competing and I had numb hands when I returned to the paddock. Nomex is a superb insulator as it has to be to protect from fire, but that also means it's great to wear to keep warm in winter. It's got limits though! I wore a jacket over my race suit in the paddock, which isn't normally required.

So physically the drivers might not be able to take the cold?