Cracking the Two-Second Record: A Quick Look at F1 Pit Crews

A flat or worn tyre is always going to be a pain when you’re out on the road, but what about if you’re barrelling around a race track at 200mph? In the world of F1, a slightly faulty tyre can lead to lost races at best and genuine physical danger at worst - this is where a driver’s pit crew comes in.

Ready and waiting with a brand new set of tyres, a driving team’s pit crew is an essential component to any successful racing team, getting the driver back on the road in a blink of an eye. Yet, whilst the driver gets to pop the champagne on a successful race, the humble pit crew is sometimes forgotten about.

With this in mind, we decided to take a closer look at what these tyre-changing speed demons do to propel their team to victory.

Becoming a pit crew member

In order to become a pit crew member, you need to have physical and mental fortitude in abundance. Working in the pit lane requires you to be lifting tyres and dexterously fitting and refuelling as quickly as possible for up to 15 hours in a given day.

In order to prepare a prospective pit crew member for the F1, they will likely go to the various pit crew training courses on offer around the world. However, as the role isn’t a consistent one, many pit crews are made up of people already working non-essential jobs within their racing team.

The pit crew

The overarching role of a pit crew member is to support the driver at key intervals during the race i.e. at the 10 lap mark. However, there is a huge amount of strategy and specific roles that ensure a pit stop goes off without a hitch.

The number of changes in a given race will differ depending on the driver, weather conditions or the race itself, meaning that one pit strategy may be completely different at the next race. The role of each member of the pit crew corresponds to the part of the car that they’re charged with adjusting.

Pit teams consist of a jackman, a front tyre carrier, a front tyre changer, a back tyre carrier and changer, and a gas man.

DHL Fastest Pit Crew Award

Since 2015, DHL has been hosting the Fast Pit Crew Award, celebrating teams with the skills and efficiency to get their drivers back on the road. With teams comfortably carrying out a successful pit stop in two seconds, the winners take the prize with milliseconds to spare.

These days, racing teams have cracked the two-second mark, with the current record being held by the Red Bull team, who were able to carry out a pit stop in a blinding 1.91 seconds, only a millisecond faster than the previous record holder.

Quality tyre fitting and sales at Acorn Tyres

Luckily, you don’t need to a professional F1 driver to get your hands on a set of quality tyres. If you’re looking for a quality tyre sales and fitting service in Aylesbury then Acorn Tyres are the ones to call.

Offering an extensive range of new and part-worn tyres from the world’s leading manufacturers, you can rest assured that Acorn Tyres has you covered.