It’s an exciting life – full of fast cars, money, and travel. The names of Formula One champions are known all over the world. And everywhere young drivers dream of success one day in Monaco, Melbourne, Monza…
But it is a difficult life too. Drivers need strong bodies – and minds. They need to think quickly, drive hard, and sometimes look death in the face. This is the dangerous, exciting world of Formula One – where the world’s best drivers have only seconds to win or lose a race.
Glossary
- advertise to tell people about something you want to sell; (n) advertising
- airfield a place where private planes take off and land
- barrier something that stops people moving from one place to another
- beat (of the heart) to make a regular movement
- brake (n & v) to make a car go slower
- champion the best player in a sport; (n) championship
- concentrateto think carefully about just one thing
- cup a large gold or silver cup given as a prize in a competition
- design (v & n) to draw a plan that shows how to make something; (n) designer
- energy power that you can use to do something, make something move etc.
- environment the air, water, land, animals, and plants around us equipment special things that you need for doing something
- exercises something that you do to make your mind or body strong
- fan a person who enjoys something very much
- fitness being healthy and strong
- force an effect that makes things move in a particular way
- frame strong pieces of metal that give something its shape
- fuel the liquid that is burnt to make a car go; fuel tank a metal box in a car that holds the fuel
- gear a part of a car’s engine that controls how fast it goes
- Grand Prix a race in the Formula One competition
- hare a small animal with long ears that can run very fast
- helmet a kind of hard hat that protects the head
- kart a small motor vehicle used for racing; karting the sport of racing karts
- layer something flat that lies on another thing
- logo a design that a company uses as its special sign
- marshal a person who controls the crowds and deals with problems at sports events
- material what you use for making or doing something
- model a small copy of something used for planning or design
- penalty a punishment for somebody who breaks a rule in sport
- paint to put coloured liquid on something to change its colour
- pit crew the people who work in the pits
- point (n) a mark that you win in a competition
- powerful having a lot of strength or power
- practise (v) to do something again and again because you want to get better at it; (n) practice
- protect to keep somebody or something safe
- qualifying session the laps that decide where the drivers go on the starting grid for the race
- race (n & v) a competition to see who can run, drive etc. the fastest
- react to do something in answer to something that has happened
- rule something that says what you must or must not do
- run-off area a place where cars can leave the track safely
- safety belt something that holds a driver safely in his seat to protect him in an accident
- sand very small pieces of rock that you find on beaches
- speed how fast something goes
- sponsor a company that pays for a sporting event in return for advertising
- steering wheel the wheel that the driver turns to make a car change direction
- team a group of people who work together
- technology using science to build and make new things
- temperature how hot or cold something is
- test (v & n) to use something to find out if it works well
- track a special road made for cars to race on
- tunnel a long hole under the ground for a road
- tyre a thick rubber ring that goes on the outside of a car wheel
- visualization seeing a picture of something in your mind
- war fighting between armies of different countries