The new Formula 1 season starts this week and one of the most frequent pictures from races will be drivers listening to music on the grid.
But none more so than Lewis Hamilton, who has a portable music studio which the new Ferrari driver flies to races around the world.
And Hamilton has recently admitted just how much music means to him.
Speaking to Rolling Stone magazine, he said: “Music is the biggest part of my life. It’s the most important thing that keeps me sane.
“In a sport where you don’t feel like you could fit in, where you know you’re different, but you can’t really talk too much and there’s no way to express yourself other than in a car, to then have music and be able to put my feelings out into something.”
So what would happen if Hamilton refused to take out his earphones and is that even allowed? talkSPORT.com takes a look…
Do F1 drivers listen to music during a race?
Put simply, no they don’t.
Interestingly, it is not actually banned in the official rules but it is not done by any driver due to the safety risks surrounding it.
F1 cars can accelerate from 0-60mph in just 2.6 seconds so listening to music would distract them from driving at such high speeds.
Max Verstappen and co also need to be able to hear essential radio instructions from their team as well as any noises from their car.
Listening to music indeed remains a huge part of drivers’ pre-race rituals, with Hamilton himself admitting it helps calm his nerves.
He told Ritz Carlton: “When I get into the car, because I’ve been listening to music just before, I usually have a track in my head.
“There are all these nerves that you have, and [music] really helps me keep that out.”
What do Team Radio instructions mean?
Just as the uninitiated to football would be confused by terms such as clean sheet and hat-trick, F1 has its own unique jargon.
Here are the most commonly used phrases over the team radio and by commentators explained:
- Backmarker – The drivers at the back of the grid that will most likely be lapped by the race leaders
- Blistering – The tyres have holes in the middle due to a temperature imbalance between the hot inner bit and the cold outer surface
- Bottoming – The underside of the car hits the track
- Box Box – Drivers need to enter the pit lane for a pit stop
- DRS – Drag Reduction System
- Flatspot – When the driver locks his front brakes and causes a flattened part of the tyre
- Oversteer – The rear wheels loose grip during cornering causing the back end to step out
- Understeer – The opposite to oversteer where the front wheels lose grip and the car doesn’t turn enough during cornering
- Undercut – Pitting earlier than a rival for fresh tyres to hopefully end up ahead of that car when they come in to pit
- Virtual safety car – For smaller track incidents like debris or a single car off track that sees the FIA set a delta time that drivers will have to slow down and adhere to until the problem is resolved
