Formula One glossary

Qualifying

Practice session that mostly takes place between 14:00 and 15:00 on the Saturday before a race. It determines the starting order of the race. Along the years, there have been different regulations for qualifying. Most used in F1 was a system that granted each driver 12 laps to set a time during a one hour session. In 2004 and 2005 each driver was allowed one single attempt to set his best time. As of 2006, an elimination system is in place that encourages more action on track during the one hour qualifying session.