WE RACE AS ONE!

Introduction and Safety features

F1 is all about the drivers and their teams racing as one. Although it is a dangerous sport where you drive at very fast speeds, the FIA have made the changes necessary to stop drivers from getting injured when and if they crash. For example, a piece of equipment was introduced in the drivers car to prevent them from getting injured from other peoples car if they have a crash, this was called the Halo. The halo was introduced after a tragic crash in 2014 leading to the death of a French driver,Jules Bianchi. It was designed using a titanium ring that slots around the drivers head when they are in the car, with a center pillar to keep the study structure.One example of where its saved a drivers life,is Romain Grosjean's crash during the 2020 Bahrain grand prix as it protected his head when he hit the metal barrier at 137mph. A very similar accident happened in 2019 when a driver called Antoine Hubert sadly died in a tragic crash involving himself and another driver called JM. This happened during the Spa Grand Prix in Belgium. Although the halo prevented his head from hitting the barrier it was the force of JM’s car hitting his that killed him.To this day, JM and Hubert’s family still keep his memory and his driving career alive.

Divers and their teams

Moving on from safety, each driver is assigned a team with engineers and a pit crew and a number of their choice. The teams for the 2021 season include:

• Mercedes - Lewis Hamilton (44) and Valteri Bottas (77)

• RedBull - Max Verstappen (33) and Sergio Perez (11)

• Mclaren - Lando Norris (4) and Daniel Riccardo (3)

• Alpine - Fernando Alonso (14) and Estaban Ocon (31)

• Alfa Romeo - Kimi Raikkonen (7) and Antonio Giovinazzi (99)

• Alpha Tauri - Pierre Gasly (10) and Yuki Tsunada (22)

• Haas - Mick Shumacher (47) and Nikita Mazepin (9)

• Williams -George Russell (63) and Nicholas Latifi (6)

• Aston Martin- Sebastian Vettal (5) and Lance Stroll (18)

• Ferrari - Charles Lerclec (16) and Carlos Sainz Jr. (55)

Race weekend- rules, structure

During a race weekend, the drivers and their teams have a number of things that they need to complete before race day. These things are a variety of practice sessions, qualifying which determines where each driver starts the race. Each team ensures that their drivers are prepared to do their best in that weekend's race. However there are quite a few rules that the teams have to stick to. The rules are made by the FIA. They make the rules to keep the sport fair and make sure the drivers are safe. These rules are updated every year to make sure the sport stays fair and safe. There are 3 sections of regulations in F1 including: sporting regulations, technical regulations and financial regulations. An example of a rule is with the tyres. In a dry race, the drivers must use 2 different sets of tyres otherwise they will be disqualified. During a race, if a driver breaks a regulation, they could face a penalty. Examples of penalties drivers can get are 5 second time penalties and drive-through penalties. Throughout the season, F1 races at a variety of tracks with a range of layouts. This season, the tracks they are racing at are: Bahrain, Imola (Italy),Portugal, Catalunya (Spain), Monaco, Baku (Azerbaijan), Montreal (Canada), Paul Ricard (France), Red Bull Ring (Austria), Silverstone (Britain), Hungaroring (Hungary), Spa (Belgium), Zandvoort (Netherlands), Monza (Italy), Sochi (Russia), Marina Bay (Singapore), Interlagos (Brazil), Melbourne (Australia), Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) and Yas Marina (Abu Dhabi). At the end of the race, the top 10 drivers get points to add to the championship standings. The points they get are: P1- 25, P2- 18, P3- 15, P4- 12, P5-10, P6- 8, P7- 6, P8- 4, P9- 2, P10- 1. The top 3 drivers get to go on the podium. There, they receive a trophy, champagne and the winning driver’s national anthem and the winning team's national anthem is played.

The F1 game

As well as the sport of Formula 1 there is also a video game that people can play on PlayStation, Xbox one and on the computer. This enables individuals that take an interest in F1 to know and experience the life of a driver during a race weekend. There are many features of the game, a few including: designing your own car, driver, suit and helmet. As well as features there are different modes in which players can choose from depending on what they want to play. These modes are Single player (career, my team and normal grand prix), multiplayer (Ranked, unranked, leagues).

Micheal Schumacher

Michael Schumacher was born January 3, 1969 in West Germany. He was a German race-car driver who set records for the most Formula One (F1) Grand Prix race victories (91, later broken by Lewis Hamilton) and F1 series championships. Michael Schumacher was injured when he fell and hit his head on a rock while crossing an off-piste area on 29th December 2013. He suffered head injury despite wearing a ski helmet. Now he has a son, Mick Schumacher who is in the sport now.

Sports in Our Lady’s Catholic Collage

Introduction to sports in olcc

At olcc, a wide range of sports are played during school and after school hours, many of these sports include, football, basketball, rugby , netball and handball. Many students across the school love to get involved in these sports for reasons like , health benefits, team building and being sociable.

These aspects of sports are really important to students as it keeps them healthy and also allows them to work together better.

Health benefits of sports

Many sports played in olcc bring a lot of health benefits to students, sports like basket ball ,hand ball ,rugby and netball are all favoured by students in olcc, these sports bring many health benefits like

•Helps increase Dexterity(agility with hands)

•creates agility and speed when moving during the sport

•decreases thinking time and allows students to learn to make faster decisions

• muscle usage allows the growth of muscles and also allows calories to be burnt keeping students more fit and healthy

•Reduces blood pressure also keeping students healthy

•reduces stress as an element of competition can be involved to keep students wanting to stay involved

These health benefits all benefit students at olcc that take part in sports weekly and also mandatorily.

Students who take part in sports outside of school hours will also see these effects but on a greater scale making them healthier.

Basket ball in olcc

Basket ball is one of the most favoured sports in olcc as it has many benefits to it, the sport of basket ball ( attempting to get a ball in the opponents net to score a point) is a very competitive sport amongst students and increases team building, this is good as students push themselves further In this game and therefore bring themselves better health benefits. Basket ball is popular amongst all students allowing them to compete , the competition in the sport drives the students to push themselves more, this also increases decision making and agility as the students have to work together to get the ball accurately down the court or intercept the ball as it travels, this quick thinking game is really good for students in olcc as it gives students a “do better “ approach to try and win. This do better approach could really benefit the students outside of the sport as they will want to do better in other aspects of life.

Rugby in olcc and the safety behind it

This sport is very competitive amongst male students in olcc, the game really pushes students to increase there muscle strength as picking up other students and tackling to the floor is a big element of the game, despite this sport seeming quite dangerous there is many safety precautions taken by staff to ensure that students do not get hurt. These safety precautions include

• students MUST wear a gum shield to prevent loss of teeth

• students must wear studded boots to keep them grounded on the floor to prevent slipping

•certain tackles are not allowed as this could cause serious injury

•no foul play

These precautions in the sport of rugby are really drilled into students so that no injury’s occurs in this sport, as this sport has a rise in popularity during the season of rugby, olcc must ensure that all students taking part in the sport are safe. Rugby can be a very dangerous sport if played incorrectly but on the contrary can be very fun and bring a lot of competition and agility to the students .

Rugby also increases dexterity as the ball has to be passed down a line to keep the ball pushing forward. This allows student to be better at catching and can also decrease thinking time making students more aware. A lot of running is done in the sport and this means students stay healthier and stronger. The competitive elements of this sport make students more sociable as they talk about what happened in the game and how they can improve at the sport.