Lollipop men, chicanes and a gravel trap

Safety Car: The course vehicle that is called from the pits to run in front of the leading car in the race in the event of a problem that requires all the cars to be slowed

Chicane: A tight sequence of corners in alternate directions. Usually inserted into a circuit to slow the cars, often just before what had been a high-speed corner

G-force: A physical force equivalent to one unit of gravity that is multiplied during rapid changes of direction or velocity. Drivers experience severe G-forces as they corner, accelerate and brake

Traction Control: A computerised system that detects if either of a car’s driven (rear) wheels is losing traction — i.e. spinning — and transfers more drive to the wheel with more traction, thus using its more power efficiently

Gravel trap: A bed of gravel on the outside of corners designed with the aim of bringing cars that fall off the circuit to a halt

Pit-Stop: An area of track separated from the start/finish straight by a wall, where the cars are brought for new tyres and fuel during the race, or for set-up changes in practice, each stopping at their respective pit garages

Lollipop man: The man who directs the car into the pits. His name comes from the distinctive shape of the ‘stop/first gear sign’ sign he holds up

Tyre warmer: An electric blanket that is wrapped around the tyres before they are fitted to the car so that they will start closer to their optimum operating temperature.

‘Splash and dash’: A pit stop in the closing laps of the race when a driver calls in for just a few litres of fuel to be sure of making it to the finish

— Micky Aigner