| key word(s) | primary pundit | phrase |
|---|
| alight | (none) | "set the [track/qualifying session] alight" |
| alive | (none) | team or driver is "coming alive" |
| all | (none) | "all of the track and more" |
| anchors | (none) | "throw out the anchors", i.e. brakes |
| annex | (none) | "annex the front row" |
| anything | Murray Walker | "Anything can happen in Formula 1, and it usually does" |
| armful | Martin Brundle | "armful(s) of opposite lock" |
| arrive | Martin Brundle | an "arrive and drive corner", i.e. quite a quick one |
| attrition | (none) | "race of attrition" |
| back foot | (none) | "on the back foot" |
| banker | (none) | "a banker lap", i.e. a fairly slow, safe qualifying lap that should ensure a driver's progression to the next phase; c.f. sighter |
| bite | Martin Brundle | "take a bite out of", e.g. a barrier |
| blink | (none) | "the first to blink", i.e. pit |
| bogey | (none) | "bogey circuit" i.e. where a driver usually performs badly |
| boots | (none) | "new boots"/"new set of boots" |
| bouncing | Martin Brundle | "bouncing off the rev-limiter" |
| brag | James Allen | one driver "has bragging rights" over another, i.e. he is faster |
| brief | Martin Brundle | "keeping a watching brief", i.e. unable to overtake |
| bubble | James Allen | "on the bubble", i.e. close to the qualifying knockout cut-off point |
| carry | (none) | "carry immense speed through a corner" |
| catapult | Martin Brundle | "catapult out of a corner" |
| chasing | Martin Brundle | "chasing the throttle" |
| Chinaman | Murray Walker | "If that isn't...,I'm a Chinaman" |
| circus | (none) | "the F1 circus" |
| cliché | James Allen | any really hackneyed cliché by unanimous consent |
| collect | (none) | "collect it up", i.e. correct a mistake |
| collect | (none) | use of "collect" to mean "crash into" |
| comfort | (none) | "comfort break" |
| confidence | Martin Brundle | "confidence lift"", i.e. a lack-of-confidence lift |
| contention | (none) | "play(ed) himself into contention" |
| corner | Martin Brundle | "knock a corner [i.e. a wheel] off" |
| costs | James Allen | tells us how much time each kilo of fuel costs in lap time |
| crawling | James Allen | "crawling all over the back of" |
| critical | Martin Brundle | "critical phase" |
| cycle | (none) | "put the tyres through a heat cycle", i.e. scrub them |
| Dan Dare | Martin Brundle | "a Dan Dare move", i.e. a brave one |
| day | Mark Blundell | "at the end of the day" |
| de-acceleration | Mark Blundell | "de-acceleration" |
| deliver | Martin Brundle | "deliver up" (a good lap, etc.) |
| diagonal | Martin Brundle | "diagonal the straight" |
| director | (none) | "race director, Charlie Whiting" |
| dirty | (none) | "dirty air" |
| dispatch | (none) | "dispatch", i.e. overtake |
| dive | (none) | "dive" into the pits |
| drop zone | (none) | "[a driver, usually Sebastien Bourdais] is in the drop zone", i.e. slower than he needs to be to go through to the next phase of qualifying |
| dust | (none) | "kick up some dust" |
| eight-ball | James Allen | a driver is "behind the eight-ball", i.e. "snookered", only in American |
| eviction | (none) | "facing eviction", i.e. in the drop zone (q.v.) |
| exactly | Steve Rider | "Exactly how important/crucial/etc. is [something]?" |
| expensive | (none) | "expensive" of a pit-stop, meaning "time-consuming" |
| fall | (none) | "fall(ing) off the track" |
| fastest | (none) | "fastest of anybody", i.e. fastest |
| fastest | (none) | fastest lap "of the race so far" or "of the grand prix so far" |
| fastèst | Murray Walker | "fastèst" |
| fat | Martin Brundle | "fat on fuel", i.e. heavy (see also "skinny") |
| fifty | Martin Brundle | reference to a lock-up turning a tyre into a "fifty-pence piece" |
| flat | (none) | "flat-spot" |
| flat | (none) | as in "exactly", e.g. a time of 1:12.0 is referred to as "a one-twelve flat" |
| flying | (none) | "absolutely flying" |
| folks | James Allen | "folks" |
| for sure | (none) | use of the phrase "for sure" by a foreign driver |
| formula | Steve Rider | "Formula One Grand Prix" |
| free | (none) | "free pit-stop", e.g. under the safety car |
| get-go | Martin Brundle | "from the get-go", i.e. "from the start" |
| go | James Allen | "GGGOOOOAAAAARRRGGGGHHHHH!!!" |
| grand prix | Martin Brundle | "GRAND prix", i.e. stresses the "grand" in "grand prix", rather than the "prix", as most of the rest of us do |
| grandee | (none) | "grandee team", i.e. old team, e.g. Ferrari, Williams |
| guys | James Allen | "guys" |
| hammer | (none) | "put the hammer down" |
| hanging | Martin Brundle | "hanging it out" |
| haul | (none) | "haul of points" |
| heeeeeere's | Murray Walker | "Heeeeeere's Rubens!" |
| hello | James Allen | "Thank you, Steve. Hello, everyone." |
| hero | (none) | "hero to zero" (see also "zero to hero") |
| hint | Martin Brundle | "a hint of a lift" |
| honest | (none) | "keeping someone honest" |
| hooked | (none) | "hooked up" |
| hurry | Martin Brundle | "hurry up and wait" |
| hurry-up | Martin Brundle | "give [someone] a hurry-up" |
| hustle | Martin Brundle | "hustle the car [through a turn]" |
| if | Murray Walker | "F1 is 'if' (spelled) backwards" |
| -ing | Mark Blundell | pronounces "-ing" as "-ink" |
| inside | (none) | "send(ing) one up the inside" |
| jail | Martin Brundle | "get out of jail free card" (often used about large run-off areas, which allow recoveries from mistakes) |
| jump | (none) | "get the jump on [somebody]", i.e. get ahead of |
| karting | Martin Brundle | "taking the karting line" (esp. in the wet), i.e. around the outside of a corner, away from the apex, apparently |
| kiss | Martin Brundle | "kiss the kerb" |
| knockings | (none) | "into the final knockings", i.e. the last few seconds |
| length | (none) | "You'll always start accelerating out of the corner at least a car length ahead of the car behind." |
| lock | (none) | "front-row lock-out" |
| long | (none) | "long, sweeping corner" |
| long | (none) | "long brake pedal" |
| luck | Louise Goodman | "Bad luck, [insert hapless driver's name here]" |
| luck | (none) | "you make your own luck" |
| marbles | (none) | "marbles", i.e. small bits of tyre rubber left on the track |
| maximise | (none) | "maximise" [drivers, engineers and commentators all say this] |
| meat | (none) | "[driver] is the meat in a [team] sandwich", e.g. "Piquet is the meat in a Super Aguri sandwich" |
| men | (none) | a corner or track that "sorts the men from the boys" |
| mirrors | (none) | "[a driver or car] is filling his mirrors" |
| mix | James Allen | "in the mix" |
| moment | Mark Blundell | "at this moment in time" or "at this point in time" |
| monster | James Allen | "monster" or "monstering" |
| mugged | (none) | "mugged", i.e. overtaken |
| nail | Martin Brundle | "nail the throttle" |
| net | (none) | a commentator refers to a driver being in e.g. "a net sixth place" by dint of differently timed pit-stops |
| office | (none) | "in the office", i.e. in the car |
| old-stager | James Allen | "old-stager", i.e. old hand |
| P | James Allen | using "P(x)" for a position |
| painted | (none) | "painted to the road", i.e. handling very well |
| parc fermé | (none) | "parc fermé conditions" |
| peg | (none) | one driver "pegs" another, i.e. matches his lap time |
| pill | Martin Brundle | "take/have a sensible pill" |
| pits | (none) | "..., as into the pits comes...," |
| plate | (none) | "step(ping) up to the plate" |
| plenty | Martin Brundle | "give/giving it plenty" |
| pocket | James Allen | tells us that you need X seconds "in your pocket" to make a pit-stop and maintain your position |
| point | (none) | "world championship point" (as distinct from any other point in F1) |
| pole | (none) | "pole-sitter" - uncomfortable |
| pressure | Martin Brundle | "In F1 you're always either giving pressure or taking it" |
| pump | Martin Brundle | "pump(ing) in" a fast lap/sector time |
| push | Martin Brundle | "He could almost get out and push it home" |
| rain | Murray Walker | "regenmaster" or "rainmeister" (but not "regenmeister" or "rainmaster") |
| rain dance | (none) | "[driver's name] will be doing a rain dance" when that driver has qualified badly |
| ramp | (none) | "the track ramps up", i.e. gets quicker |
| raw | (none) | "raw pace" |
| rear | Martin Brundle | "rear gunner", i.e. a driver who helps his team-mate |
| rearguard | (none) | "fighting a rearguard action" |
| recover | (none) | "recover to the pits" |
| reeling | (none) | "reeling in" the car in front |
| reflect | Steve Ryder | Asks a question like he's setting a GCSE Philosophy exam, e.g. "Reflect a little on...,", "Consider...,", "Evaluate...," |
| remaining | (none) | "sole remaining" |
| repêchage | Martin Brundle | "repêchage", i.e. trying to get into the next round of qualifying, having set a time that's not good enough. Or something like that. |
| resistance | Martin Brundle | "line of least resistance" |
| retardation | Martin Brundle | "retardation" |
| revelling | (none) | "revelling in these conditions" |
| ride | Martin Brundle | "ride the kerbs" |
| road | Martin Brundle | "run out of road" |
| rooster | (none) | "rooster tails" |
| round | James Allen | failing to round up, e.g. describing 0.397s as "just over three tenths." |
| round | (none) | "[a driver] rounds out the top ten" |
| run | (none) | "run and hide" |
| sand | (none) | "sandbagging" |
| save | Martin Brundle | "save" (as a noun), e.g. "save of the day" or "great save" |
| Schumacher | James Allen | any nauseating fawning over Michael Schumacher by unanimous consent |
| sea | (none) | "sea of red" |
| seat | Martin Brundle | "the best seat in the house" when an incident happens right in front of another driver |
| see | Murray Walker | "see...,visually" |
| sequence | (none) | "out of sequence" |
| sharp | Martin Brundle | "the sharp end of the grid" |
| shirt | Mark Blundell | sports a loud and/or revolting shirt |
| shoot-out | (none) | "pole position shoot-out" |
| shoulders | Mark Blundell | "pressure on his shoulders" |
| show | (none) | "in the show", i.e. through to the next session |
| sighter | (none) | "a sighter lap", i.e. a fairly slow, safe qualifying lap that should ensure a driver's progression to the next phase; c.f. banker |
| skinny | (none) | "skinny on fuel", i.e. light (see also "fat") |
| skinny | (none) | a "skinny" wing, i.e. one producing low downforce |
| spear | Martin Brundle | "spear off the track" |
| specialist | (none) | a driver who has had one or two points finishes at a circuit over the last five years is described as "(something of a) [track name] specialist" |
| spoil | (none) | one driver is "spoiling [another driver's] afternoon" |
| stalks | (none) | drivers have "eyes on stalks" in the wet |
| stand | Martin Brundle | "stand up in the seat", i.e. rise to the occasion |
| stellar | (none) | "stellar" lap-time |
| stick | (none) | "make it stick" |
| story | James Allen | "story of the race so far: ...," |
| straight | James Allen | "straightaway" instead of "straight" |
| stunning | (none) | "stunning sector time" |
| super | (none) | "super-..." meaning "very" |
| supremely | Martin Brundle | "supremely fast" |
| swap | (none) | a car "tries to swap ends", i.e. spin |
| sweet | James Allen | "in the sweet spot" |
| sympathy | (none) | "go off in sympathy", i.e. follow a car off the track |
| talk | Mark Blundell | "there's a lot of talk down the pit-lane about [something]" |
| tape | James Allen | "cut the tape" (at the end of a sector) |
| tell | Ted Kravitz | "And I'll tell you what" |
| testament | (none) | "testament to the strength of the cars" |
| thick | Martin Brundle | "the thick end of [a second]" |
| thousand | Ted Kravitz | "two thousand seven" instead of "two thousand and seven" (or any missing "and" in a number) |
| throttle | Martin Brundle | "get out of the throttle" |
| tifosi | (none) | "tifosi" if used in conjunction with "fanatical" |
| topsy | (none) | "topsy-turvy" grid |
| torrid | (none) | "torrid" |
| trading | (none) | "trading fastest laps" |
| tuck | (none) | "tuck(ed) up behind" |
| tumbling | (none) | "tumbling lap times" |
| turn | (none) | "turn(ing) a lap" |
| underneath | Martin Brundle | "he's got the car underneath him." |
| v-max | (none) | "v-max", i.e. top speed |
| very | Mark Blundell | "Very much indeed, Steve." |
| visor | Martin Brundle | talk about how water on your visor makes it look as if it's raining much more heavily than it really is |
| wall | Martin Brundle | "do a wall of death", i.e. go round the outside of a corner |
| what | Mark Blundell | inappropriate use of the word "what", e.g. "Loyalty is not a word what's used around the paddock very much." or "This is the value what Williams have seen in the guy." |
| wick | (none) | "turn the wick down", i.e. avoid over-stressing the engine |
| width | (none) | "[driver 1] leaves [driver 2] about a [driver 2's car]'s width" during an overtaking move, e.g. "Lewis leaves Webber about a Red Bull's width" |
| window | (none) | "pit-stop window" |
| zero | (none) | "zero to hero" (see also "hero to zero") |
| zone | Martin Brundle | "in the zone" |
