Sportsmanship (or sometimes sportspersonship) is an aspiration or ethos that a sport or activity will be enjoyed for its own sake, with proper consideration for fairness, ethics, respect, and a sense of fellowship with one's competitors. A sore loser refers to one who does not take defeat well, whereas a good sport means being a "good winner" as well as being a "good loser".

-Wikipedia

Formula 1 is a motorsport. And each sport consists of multiple people competing together and against each other. Some sports/games consist out of rules to keep everyone in the same playing field so that a competitive enviroment can be achieved. Sometimes a sport or game leaves room for personal interpretation. This empty space between the rules and personal interpretation can be filled with a positive or negative attitude.

If we apply negativity to the way we play the sport/game, not only do we damage the experience of those around us, we ruin the core of the sport/game itself. We mostly condition ourselves to enjoy such abuse of the rules for ourselves.

If we apply a positive attitude then we can expect players around us to enjoy the competition, to share the adrenaline, to experience fun together. We enrich the sport/game and bring it to another level. We grow in skill but we also grow as a person.

So the first lesson to be learnt before racing in a car, even if it is in a video game, is to know how you are going to behave as you boot up the game. How you are going to react when somebody knocks you off the track. Are you going to cut corners to prove something you're not? Are you going to ram somebody back even though he has rammed you three times already? Are you a good sport?

When you have decided to race as a good sport, it is time to analyse your surroundings. Even if it is a single online race, it is always handy to know who you're racing against. In F1 2013 the best and easiest data you can acquire is time and tires.

TIME

It is difficult to improve while racing as you usually have an avarage time per lap. Being able to go faster each lap is mostly due to fuel and tires as they improve/refresh while racing. Burning up fuel makes you lighter and taking new fresh tires gives you more grip. The only area we can apply skill is to be consisitent throughout the whole race.

So, first off, it is good to know what avarage time you are able to put down compared to the rest of the grid. A great place to do this is qualifying. Times can tell you where to focus on in the long run. If you have qualfied 5th and you are slower by 1-2 second(s) than the person on pole position, then it is best not to try and fight for the win yet!

Yes we are racing and fighting for 1st place, but you don't always get the opportunity. If you analyse the teams from F1 you can see they are fighting their own battles. Marussia and Caterham have fought a personal battle all season long and never thought to be competing against the midfield or even dreamt about trying to take 1st place.

In the image below I have highlighted the grid in various colors. Each difference in color means there is a gap of 1+ seconds between the drivers. With this image you can see that certain groups can form and that they will be fighting for positions in the race.

2013 Australian Grand prix Qualifying results.

NOTE: These are professional teams, with different cars, different strategies and doing 100% race lengths. There a lot of variables to consider in the real world. We play just a game with limited simulation. I want to explain the basic understanding of time when thinking about your strategy.

Qualifying rougly tells the teams about their finishing position. They can climb up +5 places or drop down -5 places. But the people that qualified around the same time as you will be the people you will be fighting for sure.

When you know who you are going to battle, you can focus on a finishing position that you want to achieve. If you're not in front of the grid then there is no need to fight for 1st position as it will only result in crashes, broken noses and a lot of rage. Like Max Chilton said: "You can't win it, if you're not in it.".

TIRES

You have the choice out of 2 types of Dry tires. You can recognise them by their colors or simply by Options (soft) Prime (hard). Knowing which type of tire your opponents use can be handy in a long race but also when you're racing someone close to you. You can view opposing players tires with the race director in the mene screen.

-Thanks to Eza for the race director tip.

In qualifying you need to determine how fast you are. Using the Option tire first is not so smart as they are most fragile. Start with Primes to test the waters and put some rubber on the track. This way you can get warmed up and set a first time and compare with your rivals. Look at what tires they are using and determine if you need to do a better lap, switch tires to do a better lap or stop qualifying to preserve tires.


Knowing the times and tires of your opponents and compare them to those of your own. You can pull off some simple but effective strategies.

For example: you can force opponents to switch to Options while you stay on Primes so that they already damage them before the race. If an opponent is slightly faster on Options, you can choose to keep the Primes and avoid a confrontation on the track. As you will be pitting on different laps.

FUEL LOAD

Another strategy type you can look at is the amount of fuel you put in your car.
You can choose between:
Cautious: For when your back on the grid and need fuel to overtake multiple opponents.
Normal: For when you need to overtake a few opponents but want to save tires.
Agressive: If you're in front of the grid and want to be very carefull on your tires.

In my other guide about Fuel and Tires, I explain how your fuel mixture influences your tire life.
Simply put, the higher the fuel mixture the faster your tires spin and the more they wear off.

If you're using a cautious fuel load you will be racing on rich fuel often resulting in damaged tires and inconsistent times.

Driving with an agressive fuel load will drop your car weight and decrease your avarage time. It will also help your tires. But you will struggle when fighting other players for position as you don't have enough fuel to keep up with their rich fuel mixture (if they have.

CHAPTER SUMMARY

• Analyse your opponents times and tires.
  
• Establish a finishing position.
  
• Think about what tires to use.
  
• Choose a starting Fuel Load best suited for your situation.

So we talked a bit about time and what you can extract from it. The key thing is to know with whom you should have battles with. Qualifying is not just a place to put the fastest time in. It is the place to be strategic and play some mindgames. You can do so much more with the 15 minutes you are given instead of just qualifying.

AVARAGE SPEED

The most important thing is to discover with who you will be batteling over the long run. If we are racing a 50% race then you should be thinking around the 15th lap and up. When you are stationed in the PIT you can study other player times. Look at their sector times and determine when the best times are for overtaking and who to battle. If you have learnt who you are going to fight for the upcoming race then you should stop qualifying.

TIRES

As I said before, keep your eyes out for the tires other people are wearing. You can view player tires via the race director in the menu screen. This can be handy in later stages of the race. When you're stationed in the PIT you can analyse the amount of laps a player has made. If you know the avarage tire life then you can determine when players will enter the PIT in the race. With this knowledge you can plan an advanced overtaking manouvre which I will introduce in the Overtaking chapter.

A final note on the tires is that you will be wearing the tires you put down the fastest time with. If you put down a time and you know for sure you can take off a second or two then do another lap. But if you're trying to take off a couple of tenths then its best to stop as you are risking tire damage over a better grid position.

CHAPTER SUMMARY

• Watch the times and determine who you will be fighting.
  
• Watch player tires and determine when others will do a PIT-stop and when you should.
  
• Don't put in lap after lap as it will only hurt your tires, stop when you think you have reached your best time.

START

Here we are, the start of the race. Hopefuly you have decided to race as a good sport. You have determined what finishing position you want to end up in and what type of tires you're going to use. You have planned out your pitstops. And you have loaded your car with a certain amount of fuel.

You're on the grid and you're surrounded by other players and you have no idea what they are all thinking. Some of them are fair racers, some of them are rammers and some are just plain bad at racing in general. But you know what kind of a racer you are and you have planned the whole race out.

The lights go out and this is the moment that you should be concentrating on the most. Because everyone is very close to each other and there is risk of contact. But there are also opportunities to overtake as some players may have had a bad start. You have to determine if you have enough road to overtake sideways and in distance. If you do you can consider using KERS to make it happen much faster.

FIRST CORNER

Now here comes the second part of the most important moment as it can ruin the whole race for everyone. The first corner is a place where the biggest crashes happen and where races end for most players. To avoid this you can just follow some simple rules you can set up for yourself.

First you can think about your braking point. Usually you know the location where you should put your foot down. But in the first corners this is usually different. Depending on your grid position you should keep in mind to brake earlier for the amount of cars in front of you. So lets say you're in 3rd position and you only have 1 row of cars in front of you. If you usually brake at 100 meters then you should probably start thinking about braking at 150 meters. 50 meters sounds like a lot, but remember you're probably already driving at high speeds and you have a full fuel tank.


If you're at the end of the grid then you should at least keep some distance between you and the cars in front. And instead of braking first, let the car glide a bit without using your throttle so you can adjust a bit.

The second thing you can think about is your racing line. At the moment everything is still scrambled so there is no clear view of what the positions are. What you can do to ensure you don't endanger yourself and others is to follow the curve instead of the racing line.


FIRST LAPS

It is very important to stay calm as you can make various mistakes in the first few laps. Cars are still close to each other and you can pick up their dirty air resulting in less grip. Your car is also full of fuel making you heavier. Braking points should be made earlier to ensure you don't lock up.

Trying to overtake early is simply useless, unless you're driving in a sprint race. In long races strategy and consistancy prevails. Focus on remaining in your current position and keep a look out on when to brake. Keeping your eyes on rivals that are tying to overtake you in the first few laps will only cause you to lose focus, miss a braking point or make simple mistakes such as giving too much throttle. Remember you're going for your final position not the position at that time.


Take a look at this fictional example. As you can see everyone has a timeline for themselves. They all start at the same time but, they end at completely different times. Now imagine Sutil lunging through the grid in the first few corners and taking 1st place. It's practicaly useless because it puts him and the others at risk. And later on he will still get caught by the people that are faster than him. Theres a bigger chance to ruin the race than to be victorious.

When everyone has been spread out over the track roughly around the 5th lap it is time to look at the data and ask yourself a couple of questions.

-What is your fastest time so far?
Concentrate as well as you can to match that time and at best to beat it with a few tenths.
Always keep an eye out on your time so you know if you're remaining consistent.
As soon as you notice that you're time has been highlighted red you should self-reflect and work on the issue that is causing you to slow down.

-Who is in front of you and who is behind you?
Are these the people you were meant to battle during the race?

-When is the pitstop coming and should you prepare for an adjustment of strategy?
You may have lost a wing or it could have started raining all of a sudden. Analyse the situation and adapt in order to remain consistant.

RACING LINE

The racing line is the fastest route around the track. It prepares best for entering corners, hits the apex points at the right location and provides the best grip available on the track. So in short just hug that line and you'll be close to the fastest time you can produce for your standards. You can activate the racing line in the options menu. Or you can follow the rubber on the track that accumulates over time.

CONSISTENCY

Consistency is key to be a succesfull racing driver. Being able to remain on the same time or improve it slightly each lap is very difficult as it asks for a great amount of concentration. Even if you've dropped far back at the start of the race, being consistent through the whole race will give you back plenty of places.

KERS

When you use KERS you're adding extra power to the engine and thus increase your speed. While this is possible at any time on the track there is a way to maximise the use of kers in certain locations and situations on the track.

The first moment we can use KERS is at the start of a race. As the lights go out and we switch to the 1st gear our wheels start to spin. Using KERS at this moment is useless as you're wasting valuable power to spin longer. Instead concentrate on the way the car reacts as you switch to 2nd gear. As soon as you feel you have gained enough grip and the car starts to accelerate you can add KERS while switching to 3rd gear.

F1 2013 isn't a simulator but we can notice that KERS have something to do with the gears. Lower gears are shorter while higher gears are longer. This means that the time it takes for a 3rd gear to reach max RPM is much shorter than that of a 7th gear. Knowing that KERS are only available for 7 seconds we can conclude that it is better to spend your kers on lower gears. I would suggest using KERS in the 3rd, 4th and 5th gear to maximize efficiency.


Now you should test this for yourself on what feels best to gain the highest speed for each track. But this doesn't mean you should use KERS on each 3rd, 4th and 5th gear. Instead use KERS in these gears when you're on a long straight. The faster you get to a higher gear the more time you can spend using the highest speed available on that long straight.

Finaly you can choose to save up KERS when you're close to an opponent. As you exit a corner going to a long straight you can use up all your kers to defend or overtake. Combining this with a slipstream and DRS you can gain a huge boost.

CHAPTER SUMMARY

• Concentrate on the start to not hit anyone. Overtake only when somebody leaves a gap.
  
• Drive safe in the first lap, It's not worth overtaking to gain 1st place as you may lose more places in the process.
  
• Stay consistent by sticking to the racing line and use kers in the best possible places.
  
• Think about what you're doing, strategy, tires, how to overtake and defend. Think about how to achieve your goal best.

With some type of cars it is allowed to bump, push and rarely ram each other to create an overtaking opportunity. With Forumula 1 contact isn't allowed because it's open wheel racing. The chance for an accident is much larger than that of DTM for example. Formulas travel at high speeds, the equipment is very expensive and vital for the car but the car is also very fragile. Getting entangled with each others wheels isn't handy for both parties.

SAFETY

To make incidents more readable for who is in the fault and who is not and to keep things safe while keeping drivers competitive there are some rules and some unwritten rules to follow. Through time drivers have set up guidelines to enable exciting racing and keep things fair at the same time.

Lets start with the racing line. As we said this is the fastest way to go over the track. This means that the player that is on the racing line is the fastest person on the track at that location.
You can see a player on the racing line as a soccer player controling the ball. You aren't allowed to tackle that player as he is leading the game forward. In racing the player on the racing line has the advantage. If you're driving behind such a player you are responsible for the most part with what happens when you try to overtake.

STRAIGHT

Overtaking in a straight line is one of the easiest ways to overtake someone. The only thing that you have to watch out for is the braking point. Because you have the use of a slipstream and DRS you are much faster than your opponent. But this doesn't mean you have the advantage. The player on the racing line is in the lead and thus has priority for the upcoming corner. Only when your front wing reaches the rear wheel of the driver in front are you allowed to contest the upcoming turn.


If you notice you will not be able to perform an overtaking manoeuvre then you are fully responsible for braking on time and not blocking the racing line for the player ahead.

CORNER

If you have managed to get next to the car you are trying to overtake then you have the right to battle for the position. Corners are a difficult place to overtake, especially fast corners as a slight contact can make the cars spin out of control. Slow corners are easier but still difficult as you can lock your brakes and slide into each other. Instead, if you brake earlier than the car in front of you, you can undercut him without losing much speed. Your opponent will probably brake later and lock up or go too deep.



PIT

Using the PIT to overtake is an advanced manoeuvre that takes good understanding of time and applying your strategy well. This trick can be used as a defensive and offensive move but, both need to be applied early or normally if you have different tires than your opponent. Keep in mind that such actions should be used when facing equal opponents. Meaning that you're trying to overtake for multiple laps but you keep putting equal times and don't get an overtaking opportunity.

To perform an overtaking manoeuvre via the PIT you need to prepare at least 4-5 laps ahead. First, you should save up some fuel by using lean fuel mixture for about 1 or 2 laps. Now enter the pit slightly earlier than you planned. When you exit you switch your fuel to rich and push. You have free track space to go all out without dirty air or defending players. Indirectly you're overtaking your opponent with more grip and rich fuel while they are struggeling with standard fuel on old tires.

When your opponent PIT's he will, if you've done well, emerge slightly behind you giving you the position. Now he has to overtake you using his rich fuel that he cannot afford for a long time. You have defending abilities giving him a more difficult time to overtake and ruin his tires.

It's not only smart to think about these things when you're batteling opponents in front or behind you. It's also smart to keep your mind on the backmarkers. As you pit you fall back by roughly 15 seconds depending on the lap you're on. Getting stuck behind backmarkers could mean you losing a few tenths maybe a second or two. To avoid this you can use the tool that tells you where you will probably rejoin when you exit the pit.




















CHAPTER SUMMARY

• Safety first, it's not worth fighting for a place if you're too slow as you will lose more time in the long run.
  
• Try to save overtaking for the long straights as that is the easiest spot. You get DRS and Slipstream.
  
• Brake earlier than usual to not make mistakes.
  
• Think about using the PIT for a strategical overtaking maneuvre.

STRAIGHT

If a player is close to you and trying to overtake, then you have the choice to use the width of the track and position yourself for a defensive move. You may only make one change of direction before the upcoming corner. This means you will leave the racing line and lose your advantage for the corner. Weaving the car left and right to block your opponent is not allowed as it is dangerous and unsportmanlike. You can use the ingame arrows to inform you when you're not allowed to move anymore if you're uncertain about the rule.



It isn't allowed to return to the racing line for a better corner, as this is technicaly weaving and can be dangerous if the other player moves to the side to avoid from rearending you.

CORNER

After you have positioned yourself for your defensive move it is important to get a better exit than your opponent. Using the inside of the corner is best because it is easier to block your opponent.
Although this is possible you also create an opening from the outside. This move is best used in hairpin corners as you're both driving very slow.



CHAPTER SUMMARY

• You only have ONE move to defend.
  
• Claiming the inside corner gives you a defending advantage as you can block your opponent.

If you are a backmarker or a racer in the back of the grid. The most important thing for you to understand is that you are not racing against the front of the grid. Your goal is to beat the 2 or 3 opponents in front of you. When you have made peace with the fact that you're not the fastest on the grid you can start with becoming a better racer. Getting faster takes time and experience. Going into races to crash in the first corner doesn't just ruin the whole race. It also stops you from growing as a racer and becoming competitive.

BRAKING

I would like to talk briefly again on how to brake as this is very important in the early stages of a race. There are a few things you really need to repeat in your head to get it right:

• I'm not racing the guys in front.
  
• My car is heavy with fuel.
  
• My car has cold brakes.
  
• Stay calm.

Not racing the guys in front simply means: pick your battles, focus on your own possible finishing position. As a beginner you're mostly fighting with yourself. With the emotions of losing, with learning how to control the car and how to take on the track. The fight is not with the people at the front of the grid.

This is a game mechanic most people don't know about because it isn't pointed out anywhere.
Depending on how long you will be racing the car will be filled with a set amount of fuel. The controls will feel heavy, the car will not have as much grip as you hoped, braking will take longer. I would advise driving really carefully the first 3-5 laps. When you have enough space around you to not put anybody at risk you can start feeling where your limits are. After your first pit stop you can start driving normally. The reason to do this is because when the car starts to get light it might still be hard to drive because the tires have worn off. When you get fresh tires you have grip and have lost some fuel and the car drives normally.

Having cold brakes means that the friction between the wheel and the brake is less. F1 brakes are very strong, and if they are cold they can simply clamp the wheel so tight that it can't spin anymore. You simply start sliding over the track. You cannot make a turn and simply run into people if they are near. If you're driving with ABS assist on then you don't need to worry as locking your tires wont happen.

But above all, stay calm. If you watch videos of eyes of racing drivers you can see total relaxation. They are super focused and their bodies are relaxed at the same time. You don't want any tention at the start or during the race. This can bring you to a higher level of trance to focus better. You can actually hear yourself think better about the situation. If you're tense you're just reacting to what you're seeing. Your mind can drift away and you can start to think about other unrelated things. Before you know it you're in the gravel. This will also help you recover from accidents. Usually when you get hit, or hit someone you start to think about the reasons this happened. If you're calm you simply pick yourself up and go on to finish the race.

BLUE FLAG

To close this guide I would like to talk about the blue flag. As a backmarker you will probably encounter this one a couple of times. Don't panic as there is hardly anything you can do wrong. Just drop your speed and get away from the racing line. You can anticipate other drivers by keeping an eye out on the minimap. If you know somone is coming simply think about how to position yourself in the upcoming corners.


CHAPTER SUMMARY

• Focus on your own race
  
• Understand your car
  
• Stay calm
  
• If you get a blue flag, slow down and get off the racing line.