F1 races start when the red lights go out. Drivers have to accelerate fast and smoothly right away, and if they get it wrong, they can lose positions or even spin.
Person
Max Stappen
Max Stappen is an F1 driver. Here, he spins during the start, showing how chaotic the first moments can be.
This is the F1 race in Barcelona, held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. It’s a regular stop on the F1 calendar, and where the race happens matters for how the cars behave.
The formation lap is the warm-up lap before the race officially starts. Cars drive around in a controlled way so drivers and officials can check everything is working and the tires and brakes are ready.
“Abort the start” means the race start gets stopped because something went wrong or isn’t safe. Officials may cancel the start or sometimes ask for another warm-up lap while they fix the problem.
The race director is the main official who makes the final decisions during the race. They also oversee safety decisions and coordinate with track staff if there’s an incident.
Cadillac is a car brand mentioned in connection with an F1 points milestone. In this story, a start-line mistake affected whether that milestone happened.
In this context, “deploy” means the race start is officially carried out and the cars are allowed to go. The official feels relief once the start is done and the cars have safely finished the first lap.
A marshal is a safety worker on the track who watches for problems and helps coordinate what happens during a race. If they’re dealing with something, the start might be delayed for safety.
They’re talking about a Grand Prix in Canada and using it as an example of a start issue. The point is that the start official has to watch carefully because problems can happen right at launch.
Transponders are electronic trackers on the cars. They send signals that let race officials know exactly what each car is doing, including if someone starts moving before the lights go out.
Telemetry is data the car sends to officials during a race. It can include things like speed and other signals, helping confirm what happened at the start.
The pit lane is the service road alongside the track where teams work on cars and where some race procedures begin. Starting from the pit lane changes how a car rejoins the field: it still follows the formation lap, but the release timing is managed so it merges safely and in the correct order.
A red flag is the signal that the race has to stop right away because something unsafe happened. After that, officials decide what to do next and the race can be restarted under controlled rules.
An aborted start means the race officials decide not to start the race as planned. Instead of fully stopping everything like a red flag, the cars usually stay put and they try the start again later.
Race Control is the command center for the event, and the Race Control channel is how they talk to the teams. It carries the important safety and race instructions that affect what happens on track.
The safety car comes out when there’s danger on the track. Cars drive behind it at reduced speed, and then the race can restart once the track is safe.
A rolling start means the cars don’t all launch from a standstill. They start moving and then build up speed as they go, usually when conditions call for extra care.
At the start of an F1 race, a set of five red lights turns on in a specific order. When they go out, that’s the signal for everyone to launch at the same time.
The race start procedure is the standardized sequence of signals and driver actions used to launch the race as fairly and safely as possible. The transcript highlights how it evolved from flag starts to light-based systems, and how modern systems coordinate signals, driver preparation, and detection of early movement.
The start lights are the official signals that tell drivers when the race is about to begin. Because cars are spread out on the grid, F1 uses extra light locations so everyone can see the signal.
F1 uses a set of lights to tell everyone when the race is about to start. When the lights change in a specific order, it signals the exact moment drivers are allowed to launch.
The pit wall is the barrier area alongside the pit lane where team personnel and race officials manage communications and signals. In F1, it’s also referenced as a location for parts of the start signaling system like the grid lights.
In F1, the start gantry is the overhead structure spanning the track that carries race-start equipment and displays. It works alongside other signaling locations (like the pit wall) to present the official information used during the countdown and release.
F2 and F3 are FIA-sanctioned junior single-seater racing series that sit below Formula 1 in the motorsport ladder. The speaker says they supported race starts in these categories before stepping up to F1.
Porsche is a major motorsport brand that fields cars and supports racing programs across multiple series. In this segment, it’s mentioned as one of the categories the speaker did race-start support for.
W Series is a women-only single-seater racing championship. The speaker references doing race-start support for it before moving up to Formula 1.
LIVE
It's the moment everyone is waiting for.
The tension is high and so are the stakes.
Everyone holds their breath as the red lights appear and heartbeats start a third.
And then...
Who's got the launch? It's Charles Leclerc and it's a spin for Max Stappen. Can the pack
avoid him? The Ferrari leads. Antonelli went wide. Max Stappen spun and Charles Leclerc
takes the lead of the Grand Prix. What a dramatic getaway we've had here.
Yes, the start is one of the most exhilarating moments in Formula One. It's where a race
can be won or lost so the pressure is huge, and not just for the drivers, but also the
woman who makes it all happen. Welcome to F1 Explains.
And this is the circuit to Catalonia and we are at the 2026 Barcelona-Catalonia Grand Prix.
Hi everyone, I'm Christian Hugill, my first time at this racetrack, far from my first
time in Barcelona. It's a city I absolutely adore. But I've never been to this race before.
You're listening to this while the episode is released on a Friday. We're recording this
first thing in the morning on a Thursday of a race weekend, media day, which if you
were listening a couple of weeks ago, we were talking all about. And it's very much in full
setup mode. So we're sat here at the FIA's hospitality building, where Roman from the
FIA is currently bringing us some water for the interview we're about to do. Thank you,
Romans. Roman, would you like to say hello to the F1 Explains listeners?
Hello, I'm Roman and I'm press officer for the FIA.
Roman is a wonderful man who is looking after us very well. And opposite Roman, we can see
Aston Martin. There is a man in a drawer with a piece of paper and a notebook checking some
things. They're in that drawer, I presume. He looks very important. We wish him well with
his duties. And then next to them is the RB team who are all donned with VCarb FC for the World Cup,
which of course is underway by the time you're listening to this. So a little bit of World
Cup fever here in the Formula One paddock. As the World Cup starts, we are talking about race
starts. Now we had an email from George in the Netherlands who wants to know about the race
starts procedure. So George, we are devoting this episode to you. He's not the only one. There
are plenty of questions you've sent in about all things race starts to F1explains at F1.com.
And that is how this podcast works. Send your emails to that address. And we find the best
people in the paddock to answer those questions. And for a podcast all about the race start,
which let's be honest, can often be the most exciting bit of a race. Who better to ask
than the person responsible for getting the race underway? I'm not sure I'd want that
responsibility. Could you imagine? Rebecca Lee is the head of Singleteater Operations at the FIA
and F1's permanent race starter. Rebecca, firstly, a warm welcome to F1explains.
Thank you. I'm fascinated by how you answer the question of what you do for a living.
When people say, what do you do? Do you say, well, you know Formula One, you know the start?
I do that. How do you explain what you do? Because it's a fantastically niche job.
Yeah, it's not actually the biggest part of my job. It's probably the smallest element of my job.
Really? Yeah. So I head up the operations for the Singleteater Department within the FIA.
So I have to make sure that we've got all of the relevant facilities in order to run a race weekend.
I'm looking after the legal compliance, managing contracts, managing suppliers, budgets, projects,
and then I'm also working with the ASNs. So when you see all the marshals and ASNs being...
So all the local motorsport federations. So when you see all of the marshals and the recovery and
all the intervention on a race weekend, I've been working with the locals prior to the event,
mums prior to the event, to ensure that those guys have got exactly what they need.
Could I make a bold guess at something? Yeah. You sound like a busy human being.
Very. Yeah, sounds like a lot. We're obviously on this episode focusing on that small but important
part of your job, the start. Let's break it down. Just before the start of the race,
the mechanics step away from the cars. The drivers complete a formation lap.
Firstly, and we covered this on F1 Explains a couple of weeks ago, but for anyone who might
have missed it, why do we have a formation lap when the cars are already on the grid?
Like they're there. Why do we send them around again? So the formation lap is basically the final
check and the final test. So the drivers can make sure that the cars are operating as they
should be. They can warm the brakes. They can warm the tyres, assess the track conditions,
and it also gives us the FIA an opportunity to make sure that we're happy with everything before
we deploy all of our cars at full speed into turn one. Now, that's what the drivers are doing
and what the teams are doing. It's final checks time. It's making sure everything's warmed up
and in the right temperature to be able to go racing. What are you doing at that point?
At the start country at that point, and I am on the race control channel,
observing the cars going round to make sure that we don't need to abort the start or
do any intervention. I think there was a couple of years ago, one of the drivers
crashed on the formation lap. So obviously we had to abort our starting procedure. So at that point,
I'm alerting, observing all of the cars going round, waiting for them to come back to me.
So if that happens, if a driver spins or goes into the tyres or breaks down even,
is that your decision to abort the start or is that someone around you?
So yeah, obviously when I'm in the start country, if I physically see something, then of course I'll
abort. But if the race director picks it up because they've got more camera visibility,
then he'll let me know and say, look, we need a abort or we might be able to just do an extra
formation lap. But of course the race director needs to communicate with the locals and the
marshals to see how quickly and get the incident recovered. So it's a collective sort of agreement.
And is the race director, because obviously there'll be lots of race officials
around everybody who had different responsibilities, is the race director sort of the boss in overall
charge? Yeah. So obviously he'll make all of the final decisions and he's also the safety
delegate as well. So that's very critical to all the decisions that have been made.
Very, very important. Now the cars come back round to their starting positions.
What are the rules about where they line up on the grids? Is that the next thing you're
thinking about when they've got through the formation lap and everybody's fine?
Yeah. So the tyres need to be within the white lines on the grid. We have grid cameras,
so we can check the positioning. And we also have got the transponders as well, so we can
check if there's been any non-compliant movements. So yeah, it is quite hard actually when you're
there to see exactly the positioning of the cars. So I am also relying on the marshals to
report back to me. And we've got a team of people from the FIA that are on the side of the pit wall
as well. And then we've got race control, checking the cameras just to make sure that everyone's
in position. Monaco, for example, that start finish straight is not actually straight. It
goes round on a bend, so it can be optical illusion sometimes. Sometimes it's very easy,
you know, you can see it, but completely depends on the visibility that we've got. So
I am relying on other people on that point as well. Was Monaco last weekend a busy one for you
in that regard? Yeah, very busy. So let's talk about a couple of those things. So of course,
for those that missed it in Monaco last weekend, George Russell was investigated for a potential
start line breach. His wheels were within the white lines of the grid box. So in those situations,
you don't get a penalty. But Sergio Perez, unfortunately for Sergio, lost out on Cadillac's
first point in Formula One. Why was that, Rebecca? He pulled up into the wrong grid box.
So I don't know if you can see sometimes on TV, we've got our grid lights on the side
as well. And that also acts as an aid to the drivers as well. So they can see the
grid position that they need to be in. So it's the driver's number and the abbreviation
on top of the light. So next time you watch the start, have a look for them.
Were you tempted to let him off because it was Cadillac's first point? I would have been.
That decision is not on me, unfortunately. You're harsh taskmasters here at the FIA. You're all
harsh taskmasters. So let's take us back to what would be a normal race start. The cars are all
lined up in formation. The medical car is behind the last row. And that's there ready to follow
them around in case of any incidents on lap one. Well, let's be honest, the risk of accidents
are highest. We see someone behind that car waving a green flag. Now, Rebecca, just describe where
you're positioned at this point. What you have in front of you, who you're in communication with,
what happens next? So I'm stood at the start gantry, of course. All the cars will go into
position. We'll see our marshals activate the grid lights. So once the driver's in the
stationary in the grid box, the grid marshals will activate the lights. So they all come to a
90 degree position. So if we need to deploy a yellow, the drivers behind the driver in that
position, you'll see the lights and we can deploy a cascade. So once all the cars are in position,
all the lights, grid lights will go green, flag marshall will wave. And then once the
flag marshall at the back's happy that all the cars were in position, because obviously he's got a
better visibility than me at the back. I'll communicate to race control that we're good for
the pre-start. Once we're good for pre-start, all the grid panels will flash green for five
seconds. And this will then enable the drivers to prepare the cars, spin the tables. And then
obviously after that, when we deem it's necessary, we will start the start sequence.
They're preparing the cars and spinning the turbos. That's different this year, isn't it?
That wasn't there last year. Is that the main difference to the 2026 regulations and the
change of start procedure compared to last year? Yeah. And just explain the moment of lights out.
Now it's always very exciting for us watching at home. And one thing we've covered on F1 explains
before is when you get the five lights and when they go out, it is a different time from all
the lights being on to all of them going out so the drivers don't get used to it in muscle memory
knowing it's always 1.4 seconds between the last light going on and them going out. Explain how
that works. Is it somebody deciding? Is it a computer? How does the lights out on a way we go
moment work? So I'll begin the start sequence and then obviously make sure that everything's safe.
I'm happy that everyone's prepared and good to go and then I'll extinguish the lights. So it's
all done manually. It's nothing done automatically. It's all me behind the panel. So Rebecca,
that's your decision as to how long to wait to make the lights go out? Yeah. That's a lot of power
and responsibility. How does it feel? It's a good feeling to be honest. Obviously you're getting
adrenaline. The sound, you know, when all of the cars are revving up, it's quite unreal. But
not ultimately. All I'm thinking about is keeping everybody safe. So it's relief once everyone
gets deployed and everyone's completed lap 1. I do get a feeling of relief and I just always
want to wrench you without everyone's deployed in a safe manner. I think if I did it, it'd depend
what mood I was in. You know, if I'd had a bad day, I'd be like, I'm going to leave them. I'm
going to make them sweat. Or I'd just be like, take it off straight away and be like, I'll catch you
out. But is there a minimum and maximum amount of time you can leave them for? No. Again, like,
everything goes down to safety if I need to wait a couple of extra seconds because, you know, we
think that there's a gate not closed or we might see a marshal or we might see something on track
or I might think that drivers give us the signal, you know, I'd always, you know, give it a second.
We've always got a couple of seconds or I'd always wait and then obviously extinguish the lights.
At the same time, you don't want to unnecessarily make the guys sit there sweating. They spend enough
time in them cars during the race. Oh, forget it. They're paid loads. I would. To make them sit
there longer, it's great fun. And you guys must have to have your eyes and ears to the ground
at all points because the situations like in Canada where poor Arvid Limblads was struggling,
he couldn't get off the line. Do you have to sort of manually, if you like, keep an eye out
for those moments? Yeah. I was lucky that I seen him, actually, because he didn't wave his hands
for very long. It was like a quick wave and then down. At that point in time, I am completely
focused. I'm looking at the drivers. I'm looking at the drivers in the cockpit. Obviously, I check,
you know, the areas around. I make sure that everything's safe around. And then before I deploy,
before I extinguish the lights, I'm looking at the drivers. So I'm looking up and down the grid at
the guys in the cockpit. And that's when I've seen Arvid wave his hands. You do get taught about that
right from the grassroots of motorsport. I did a bit of racing when I was a kid, which our
listeners get bored of me talking about. But it didn't last long, Rebecca. I wasn't very good.
There's a reason I'm talking about it now. But you are actually genuinely told like if your car
or your car is stricken, wave like a mad person because people like you need to spot them. So
we'll pass that on to Arvid. In future, Arvid, a bit of a bigger wave from you would be helpful.
Yes, please. Thank you very much. Now, let's get on to some listener questions. F1 explains at
f1.com. Shana is from North Carolina. Shana has asked you, Rebecca, what happens if a driver moves
before the lights go out? How is it detected? So we've got transponders. If there's a move detected,
the report will automatically come through and then we can review that with the stewards. So
with our grid cameras, any onboard cameras, the telemetry, and then obviously it'll be a combination
of the report from the transponders and obviously all of the infrastructure that we use for additional
checks with the stewards. And what about the cars starting the race from the pit lane? How is it
different for them? Well, obviously if a car is starting from the pit lane, they'll still join
the formation lap. And then once the last cars cross the exit, I'll release the car. I'll release
the driver. Canada's a little bit different actually. If I'm releasing the driver from the
pit lane, basically the exit line is short of in going round turn one. Ultimately, it means the
driver would get there quicker than the drivers that are starting on the grid. So I need the race
director to let me know when to release the driver from the pit lane. Yeah, of course. That makes
perfect sense. And there are times when you'll need another formation lap. In fact, we've just
mentioned Arvid Limblad at the Canadian Grand Prix. That's one very good example. What's the
procedure for something like that? In what circumstances would you by the rulebook say,
right, we need another formation lap? So exactly what happens in Canada. So if there's a driver
waving his hands, he's got a problem. We do an extra formation lap in the hope that during the
formation lap, we can get the car off the grid in the relevant time before the other drivers get
back to the starting grid. Obviously in Canada, we didn't achieve that just due to the positioning
of the gates and things like that. So yeah, otherwise, you know, if there's something more
sinister than, you know, just a driver's got an issue, we just abort the start and then we'd
have to redo the starting procedure. Right, sure, sure. I'd never go back to the pit lane in that
eventuality. It's completely aborted. No, so if it's, they only go back to the pit lane when we've
red flagged. Fine. So obviously if we get on track and I don't know, there might be somebody on track,
a fan might have gone on the track, for example. Yes, sure. And so we obviously, we don't want to
do an extra formation lap. We don't want the cars going near the people. We need to find out where
the problem is. So we'll abort completely, the cars will stay where they are, and then all the
teams, the engineers will come back onto the grid and we redo the starting procedure. And then
we need to give the teams at least a 10 minute warning prior to the new official start time.
And with you, and with you, but the difference between what I was getting mixed up with is the
red flag when the race has stopped, that's when they go into the pit. But if it's a race aborted,
if the race has been aborted, it's a more simple case of stay where you are, guys. Everybody comes
here. If it starts being aborted. Yeah, that makes sense. Now, once the race has started and the
race is underway, is it time for you to switch off a little bit? I'm guessing not. Given the
description of your job, it doesn't sound like you ever switch off. Unfortunately not. No. So I'm
listening into the Race Control channel. And of course, I'm watching the race. And as we add in
Monaco, if there's a red flag, I need to be there on standby and ready and prepared to do any race
resumptions. Because we do see that. I mean, Monaco is a good example where we had the red flag.
When a race is starting under the safety car, how's that different in terms of what you do? And
also, why would a race start under the safety car? Obviously, I'd need to make sure that I program
the start system under a safety car start. And sometimes we do it. So if it's wet conditions,
sometimes we want the drivers to go around and do multiple laps behind the safety car,
so they can get used to the track conditions, or maybe we want to clear some standard water off
the racing line. And then obviously, if we're going to do a rolling start, if the starting grid's
not equally part wet on both sides, we don't want to do a race start because it'd be unfair on
one half of the grid and not the other. So yeah, the protocol is pretty much the same. I just need
to manipulate the system with some additional steps. But yeah, at the end goal is still the
same, you know, nothing, there's nothing drastic that changes. George in the Netherlands has emailed
and said, watching on TV, we hear the heartbeat noise when the five red lights come on at the start.
Can the drivers hear that? I didn't even know there was a heartbeat at the start. I've got headset
on and I'm listening to various different channels, so I can't hear anything else outside of what's
going through my headset, apart from the engines. I will be honest, me and Rebecca spoke a little
bit about this before we started recording with the obviously for us fans watching at home, the
sort of heartbeat noises have become an iconic part of our weekend. And there's Rebecca at the heart
of the action said to me, didn't know, didn't know we had them. So for you, it's just lights,
isn't it? There's no sound effect to anything like that. Yeah, exactly. And the start procedure's
moved on quite heavily, hasn't it? Back in the 1950s, when the F1 World Championship began,
the race was started by just a bloke waving a flag. And then in the 70s, lights started to be used.
Red lights came on above the starting grid. Then green lights came on below to signal the start
of the race. The current system of five red lights coming out one by one, then all going out was
first used in 1996. Rebecca, why is that a good start procedure? Why does it work? Why have we
stuck with it since, you know, a few decades ago back in the 90s? I think the main aspect of that is
safety. We've got repeater lights as well. So for the drivers that are further back on the grid.
Yes, there's a second set. Exactly. So, you know, I think it makes it more fair in
same again, safety. I spoke earlier about the transponders of the cars, you know, to detect
any false starts and movements. Them transponders are also linked to the start lights. So we can
see where in the start sequence, if someone's crept forward, you know, the drivers are getting
themselves prepared with the clutch and things like that. So sometimes there can be accidental
movements, but ultimately, you know, like all of our systems are pretty much linked and speaking
to each of us. So we've got one system to detect a certain element, but also, you know, the lights
are also supporting that of a software and technology that we've got in place. So I definitely
think it's a good thing. Rebecca, we speak to Formula One drivers on this podcast. But frankly,
we hear a lot from them. So one thing we try and do is speak to people who you don't normally get to
hear from, and we would put you in that category. Now, often our listeners are very intrigued as to
how people like you got into this mad Formula One world. How on earth did you do a journey to
eventually becoming in charge of the Formula One start procedure, plus all the many other things
that are in your job role? How did you get into something like this? I never planned it. I don't
think you could plan it, could you? Yeah. Very niche plan, wouldn't it? I never thought, when I was younger,
I never thought, right, that's what I'm going to do. be the F1 race starter. What do
you want to do when you grow up? You know the start of F1 races? So I started with the FIA in 2022.
Prior to that, I was a supplier to the FIA. I used to do the installation. You know, I spoke
about the grid lights earlier on the side of the pit wall, and we've got like the information panel
on the start and gantry. So I actually used to do like the installations there, like all of the
electrical installations. And then I started doing the training with the marshals. And then I started
to do the support categories. So I was doing the race starts for Porsche, W series at the time,
F2 and F3. And then got asked if I'd be interested in stepping up to do F1. Sounds a fascinating
job. Do you enjoy it? Yeah, I love it. I'm blessed. I'm very lucky. Now, this podcast is a very
international listenership. So you're from the northeast of England, right? Yep. It's an unusual
accent to hear in this paddock. Graham Loud and the team boss of Cadillac is another one who has
it. But for those that aren't aware, the northeast accent is often known as the friendliest in the
UK. I never knew that, but that's nice to know. Yeah, often called Geordie for those that don't
know Geordie people are generally delightful. It is a very friendly accent. But you were saying
that people around here think you have an accent, but when you go home, they don't think you've got
the accent. I think I speak too slow when I go home. And when I come here, everyone thinks I
speak too fast. I've got a very Midlands accent. And people said the same to go home and say,
you've not got an accent. Then when I'm around people in this paddock, they go, oh, yeah,
sound really Midlands. So there must be something about it. It's a fascinating journey. And as I
said, we love on this podcast, sort of shining a light on people you don't usually get to hear from.
So it's been lovely to hear your story, Rebecca, and how you got into this ridiculous world of
Formula One, but also really appreciate your insights into how you do your really cool job.
So thank you for coming on. Everyone explains. Thank you. Thanks for having me.
I love a niche Formula One job. Rebecca's job is absolutely fascinating.
And again, another recurring theme of what we often see in this podcast. Sorry,
I'm going to interrupt myself. I mentioned at the start of the show that everybody's sort of
building the circuit for the weekend because we're here early on a Thursday morning.
A little pickup truck has just drove past us with two absolutely massive potted plants.
And it's only in the Formula One paddock could a pickup truck be going on the right side of the
paddock with a load of potted plants. And then on the left, somebody wheels down,
Estaban Ocon soft tires for the weekend. It's just the strange world of the Formula One paddock.
Anyway, what was I saying? Yes, a lot of people in Formula One have two or three jobs and that
Rebecca's so important job at the very start is just one element of a lot of what she does.
And last year on the podcast, in fact, we put it on the feed this year, we recorded an episode
inside the garage with the Haas team. And again, so many of the people we met in that episode
have such an important job on the pit stops, for example, but then do so many other things
across the course of the weekend. People in this paddock tend to be multi talented people
is what we've learned. And speaking of multi talented people, we know our listeners are
wonderful multi talented people listening all over the world. A little message from Kim in
California. Kim says, Hi, Christian, I recently started watching F1 because my partner is obsessed
with it. He even took me to my first race last weekend in Monaco. F1 explains is really helping
me understand what's going on. There's so much to learn, but thanks to this podcast, I'm keeping up.
Kim in California, that is exactly what we are here for. And any questions you've got,
it can be about literally anything in Formula One. There'll be sometimes on this podcast where we
talk to drivers, we had Landon Norris on last season, for example, plenty of times we'll talk
to Formula One drivers, but sometimes we need to dig into the role of someone who you'd never
normally get to hear from like Rebecca. And that's what we did this week. Lovely stuff. Well,
enjoy this weekend. I know I will. I'm looking forward to seeing whether Kimmy Antonelli can
keep going with this frankly ridiculous winning record of his. And we will debrief all the action
on F1 Nation with Tom Clarkson. And I'm guessing producer Jamie James Hinchcliffe will join Tom
Clarkson this weekend. Yes, lovely. I'm learning. And of course, there is Tom's other podcast,
our sister podcast, Beyond the Grid. Producer Jamie often at this point tells us who's coming
up on Beyond the Grid as he produces it as well. Jamie. Hi. Hello, Christian. Thanks for having
me. No, it's a pleasure. Who's on Beyond the Grid? Well, it's a man who's going to make some
history this weekend. Oh, yeah. Alex Albon is going to become the driver with the most
race starts in Williams history. So it's him, of course. What a man. We love Alex Albon. I hope
it was pure chaos. Like the couple of times we've had Alex Albon on this podcast, a very famous
moment of this podcast is where we walked in to use the Lou when we were interviewing James Valls,
because the Lou wasn't in James's office, but it was within the building structure.
Anyway, that happened. Have a look on my social media for that. Alex Albon is one of my favourite
people to interview. That would be fantastic. Make sure you check out Beyond the Grid with TC.
Of course, you can keep up with all the action on F1 TV, depending on where you are in the world.
And there will be highlights on F1's YouTube channel as well. And we have new episodes every
week. So we will be back next Friday to explain some more things from the wonderful world of
Formula One. I'm Christian Hugill from Spain. Speak to you soon. Bye for now.
About this episode
From the tension of “red lights” to the formation lap’s purpose, the episode walks through how an F1 Grand Prix start is prepared and verified. Rebecca Lee, F1’s permanent race starter, explains final checks, who can trigger an abort, and how the race director oversees safety. The hosts then cover grid compliance, transponders and cameras for false-start detection, and the fixed lights-out timing—plus what changes under 2026 procedures and in wet conditions.
Five red lights go out and the race is on! The start of a Formula 1 Grand Prix is a high-pressure moment - not just for the drivers, but for the woman who controls the start.
Rebecca Lee is the Head of Single-Seater Operations at the FIA and the F1 Permanent Starter. She joins Christian Hewgill to answer your questions about the race start procedure. What are the rules at the start of a race? How does she keep everyone safe? Most excitingly, how does she decide when to push the button which turns the lights off, and send 22 Formula 1 cars into battle?
