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16:47
Neil deGrasse Tyson Explains the Physics of Formula One Racing
StarTalk
·
May 10, 2026
Open on YouTube
Transcript
0:01
[Music]
0:03
so what's what's going on here
0:07
what big
0:09
clue this is the British Grand Prix and
0:13
it's the venue of the first ever Formula
0:16
1 grand prix in 1950 which is way older
0:20
than new ory this has been going for 75
0:22
years it's cool right and so here we are
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0:25
to find out what it takes to put on a
0:28
Formula 1 race in terms of the
0:31
engineering The Innovation and explore
0:35
places that people rarely get to see
0:38
we're going in SCA Ferrari's garage
0:41
Ferrari Ferrari the car them the red
0:44
fast
0:45
car that's them in the pit Lane in the
0:48
garage we're going to be talking to an
0:50
engineer we got our friends Bit Defender
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0:52
who are one of the key partners with
0:54
Ferrari B Defender they they're at like
0:56
a security cyber security good well good
0:59
knowledge I knew that they are but
1:01
they're also going to help us explore
1:04
the Innovation and Engineering for me
1:06
Formula 1 is the Pinnacle of innovation
1:09
and Engineering okay I'm an
1:10
astrophysicist that would be landing on
1:12
Mars with an SUV side Rover or humans
1:15
walking on the moon anyone else see that
1:17
one
1:18
coming tell you what you're going to
1:20
fall in love okay with the red Beauty
1:23
that's down there I'll put it number two
1:24
but ain't going to number one and we'll
1:26
see after you've been down there
1:33
[Music]
1:40
[Music]
1:44
the Silverstone track is a former
1:45
Airfield The Straits are long so you
1:48
really can floor it and go for it but
1:51
they've also built in a number of long I
1:54
call them luxurious luscious bends and
1:57
you can you get that speed but as we
1:59
found out they're pulling stupid amounts
2:01
of G normally when we think of G forces
2:04
we think of something that's pressing
2:06
down on you straight the length of your
2:08
spine so two things will affect the G
2:11
forces in the turn one of them is how
2:13
fast you're going into the turn the
2:15
second is how tight the turn is both of
2:18
those combined can increase the tighter
2:21
the turn the faster you're going will
2:23
increase the G forces sideways and these
2:26
guys are hitting 3 4 5G so 5G sideways
2:31
you know your heart is just kind of
2:32
dangling there in your chest do that
2:35
your head is like bobbing on your on
2:38
your neck which is why you see the
2:39
drivers they got this kind of brace
2:42
around their neck this contraption I
2:44
notic in the compartment they're
2:46
shoulder Tosh shoulder with the size of
2:49
their seating area and yeah and their
2:51
head is is restrained right so they
2:53
can't the head is not just some you
2:55
imagine being flopping around like that
2:57
and you're getting 5G slid through the
2:59
side of you gez yeah your inner organs
3:01
they're going to feel
3:02
it it's brutal what can we compare that
3:05
with so when NASA launches astronauts
3:08
they throttle such that they don't
3:10
experience more than 3GS so that's why
3:13
the not the solid rocket boosters which
3:16
are
3:17
unthrottle right once you light those
3:19
puppies it goes okay until they run out
3:21
then you separate them and then the main
3:23
engine that's the one that they can
3:25
throttle and so that throttles in
3:26
response to what these g-forces will be
3:29
and those are they're seated as you see
3:31
you know how they get into the space so
3:33
that one's actually against their chest
3:35
cuz they're seated backwards but keep in
3:38
mind that's sustained for the entire
3:40
launch and that can go up to several
3:42
minutes maybe even up to 8 minutes what
3:44
actually blew me away not the fact that
3:46
when you get close up to one of the cars
3:49
just how Bloody big it is but because
3:51
they're modular you can just pop parts
3:54
of the car off you're putting the nose
3:57
on right now
4:02
and the most modular part are the
4:04
tires right you watch their four tires
4:07
you you turn your head this way you turn
4:09
your head back and it's four new tires
4:11
on the car I I timed them it was like
4:13
2.1 seconds or something and they
4:15
they'll get it sub
4:17
[Applause]
4:21
to back left L Gary let's see what frto
4:25
Rico had to say on that very subject
4:28
this is also a track dependent
4:30
discussion because imagine in in Italy
4:33
we have Monza Monza is a truck in which
4:36
you reach very high speed and for that
4:38
you need a car that has less drug as
4:41
possible so you have to shape this for
4:44
the track for the needs of the of the
4:46
race
4:48
every we can tune the aerosurfaces we
4:51
can tune the setup we can tune many
4:53
things what are the big concerns for
4:56
setting this car up for Silverstone as
4:58
opposed now to
5:00
Monaco where there's lots of tight
5:01
curves no straights no Lovely Lashes bin
5:04
yeah Silverstone is a temple in terms of
5:08
a high speed Corner these kind of cars
5:10
when you are moving Full Throttle
5:13
through these Corners if you go up to 4G
5:16
of lateral acceleration you need to have
5:18
load on the tires yes to to grip the
5:20
road otherwise you will fly off
5:23
otherwise you would slide so you need
5:24
maximum friction between your tires and
5:28
the road you need to put as much low as
5:30
you can on the tires such that you
5:32
maximize the
5:37
grip this my first Formula 1 race ever
5:41
it was raining oh that was that's
5:43
British I did not know s it was raining
5:46
at
5:48
50° it's cold I'm wet it's July so I was
5:53
surprised I was just ignorant of this
5:56
that you could race in the rain you see
5:58
what they did with
6:00
not increasing the mass of the car but
6:02
increasing the weight on the car with
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the down Force the force because when
6:06
it's wet it's slippy as we've discussed
6:08
already and you need higher downward
6:10
force and how they go about achieving
6:13
this so the aerodynamics going over the
6:15
car there's the car shape itself which
6:17
surely they've thought about but they
6:19
got those add-ons right there there's
6:21
there's an air foil basically creates
6:23
extra air pressure down on the rear
6:26
wheels which is where your traction is
6:28
coming from not the front no the
6:30
structure of the air foil as an add-on
6:33
to the chassis enables the air to create
6:36
a higher downward Force which increases
6:38
the friction between the tires and the
6:39
road which then gives you more traction
6:41
because your traction is 100% determined
6:44
by that friction now have you ever seen
6:46
if you sit over the wing in an airplane
6:49
flight yeah and you watch it when it
6:52
takes off and when it lands the wing
6:55
gets bigger yeah there's a piece of the
6:58
wing that out extends out and curves
7:02
down M so the more Wing surface they
7:04
have the more lift and since it curves
7:07
down there's pressure air pressure on it
7:10
to lift it up yeah now take that whole
7:12
thing and flip it and now what they had
7:14
on the on the formula one was there's a
7:17
curv surface that comes up that's that
7:20
extra lift the plane is getting by
7:23
pointing down now you want extra
7:25
pressure coming down from the speed
7:27
going forward and that's what's on the
7:29
back the Formula 1 you were down on the
7:32
ground cuz you couldn't believe just how
7:34
close right very very low Center of mass
7:39
very stable on turns on everything like
7:42
three finger then the air speed mhm is
7:46
going to be very high across the ground
7:49
the car is dragging air with it yeah
7:51
okay the Unseen okay it's it's dragging
7:54
air with it so that will create a
7:56
partial pressure upwards cuz moving air
7:58
has lower pressure and stationary air
8:01
and what did I hear at one of the races
8:03
a car drove so fast down the street it
8:05
sucked up one of the drain covers and
8:07
hit the bottom of the chassis in Vegas
8:09
they hadn't sealed it properly to make
8:11
sure it stayed where it was put okay
8:13
because underneath the drain is regular
8:15
air pressure yep and fast moving air is
8:18
lower air pressure that's very Bui and
8:21
so if you have a difference in pressure
8:23
watch out we were looking at Carlos s's
8:26
car the Ferrari and it was he who had
8:30
one of these drain covers pop as he
8:33
drove over it so anything hitting
8:35
anything moving 180 M hour is bad yeah
8:39
totally not good and I'm sure the garage
8:41
were very unhappy right but the garage
8:43
was fun all the Ferrari mechanics start
8:45
to do exercises oh no that was fun yeah
8:48
that was a little weird they did a warm
8:49
up I could I was expecting and they all
8:52
like they all they did calisthenics they
8:55
if they started doing they did jumping
8:57
jacks they had like a rubber hose that
8:59
they were stretching they pressing on
9:01
their neck and I thought I'd join in
9:03
with
9:04
them and I got a you know some of the
9:06
stretching and there you were there and
9:08
they did like lunges I know and at first
9:12
I was wondering like what are they doing
9:13
they just like killing time they have to
9:15
be nimble and ready when the car comes
9:17
in for the pit stop so that the pit stop
9:20
doesn't last more than 2 and 1/2 seconds
9:23
all four wheels are on secured and the
9:26
car's out in under 3 seconds 2 and 1/
9:28
half seconds it's impressive right to
9:31
say course they lose more time than that
9:33
because they have to slow down to go
9:35
into the lane there's like 50 mph speed
9:38
L yeah you can't can you imagine coming
9:39
in at 100 miles hour You' be like it'd
9:41
be like 10 Pin bowling Skittle people
9:46
everywhere and then I think back to the
9:49
sort of fan Zone area we ended up in
9:52
well the fan zone right cuz they also
9:54
had the simulated uh Driving
9:58
Experience supposed to go on the grass
10:00
is that
10:02
allow as I remember Formula 1 pledged to
10:05
go carbon neutral yes by 20130 I'm told
10:08
they're on track to beat that dat and
10:10
they're going synthetic no partly not
10:13
synthetic so here's what they're doing
10:14
they're taking after we after my long
10:17
conversation with the person in the
10:19
booth yeah what she said was I'm going
10:21
to take water MH and with solar energy
10:23
they're going to dissociate the molecule
10:25
which is the chemist word for separating
10:29
hen from separating hydrogen from oygen
10:31
thank you thank you so knew you had it
10:33
in your and so now you have the hydrogen
10:35
now they recapture carbon dioxide from
10:38
the environment and by their magic ways
10:41
will combine the hydrogen the carbon
10:42
dioxide and turn it into basically
10:45
gasoline so in that sense it's not
10:47
synthetic fuel it's synthetically
10:50
manufactured real Fuel and that means
10:53
they don't have to change their
10:55
engines see they'll have to there are
10:58
some small people around I know how's
11:01
that for Innovation another thing that
11:02
intrigued me just as a scientist is to
11:04
hear red Rico just talk about the
11:08
constraints put on him the engineer by
11:11
the rules and regulations of the sport
11:14
we need to think outside the box imagine
11:16
for example me as an aerodynamicist i
11:18
play every day Within These legality
11:21
boxes regulations change every few years
11:25
such that is like drawing a zero line
11:28
and you restart
11:30
and and what the public doesn't
11:31
typically appreciate yeah is that
11:35
Engineers love constraints well see if
11:39
you say here do it with with anything
11:41
you need they don't they're lost you say
11:43
do it for this amount of weight with
11:45
that price at this thing if you give us
11:47
constraints we always Target ourself to
11:51
lie exactly on the limits got on a limit
11:53
if you're in complete control of your
11:55
car you're not in the race at all maybe
11:58
that's a bit of an exaggeration of
12:00
course but but the idea is something to
12:04
reckon because you want to take the car
12:06
to its limits taking it beyond what is
12:10
perceived to be its limit if track and
12:11
field athletes didn't have that
12:13
mentality we'd never get a record broken
12:15
oh that's right you would never run
12:17
faster than you've ever run before the
12:20
fascinating thing about the Silverstone
12:22
track you are at Full Throttle 60% of
12:26
the race as we found out probably the
12:29
this thing at the track is something you
12:30
can't actually see which would be all
12:32
the data
12:36
[Music]
12:39
transfer Communications is one thing but
12:42
then Ferrari has to look at many other
12:44
things intellectual property theft they
12:47
their design has to be safe and secure
12:49
so what they store their data is a very
12:52
uh very important Place uh if you know
12:54
the concept of supply chain attacks or
12:56
supply chain security that's also very
12:58
important because if you have a nice car
13:00
that has like it's not like a plane with
13:02
a million or a billion pieces but I
13:05
think there's a couple of hundred
13:06
thousands in there and if one of them is
13:08
faulty or hacked and it's digital that
13:10
can also cor can create issues if
13:12
someone gets into the supply chain and
13:14
gives you a faulty bolt that will
13:17
crumble on the third turn it can
13:19
actually be lethal I hadn't thought
13:20
about that okay cuz so so therefore not
13:23
all the world is bits and
13:25
bites with the sponsorship obviously
13:28
with Ferrari and we can see it it's
13:30
visible but what cyber security services
13:34
do you provide is it just a Ferrari or
13:36
is it to F1 as whole outfit uh when it
13:39
comes to Ferrari they use our trade
13:41
intelligence feeds uh so basically they
13:44
consume all the data that we have
13:47
related to cyber crimes and to cyber
13:49
attacks we send them uh various um
13:52
indicators of compromise basically if
13:54
you see that indicator of compromise
13:57
somewhere within your ization it means
14:00
that you have been already compromised
14:02
so we send this to them they can secure
14:05
not only themselves but also the uh
14:08
their partners and their other people
14:09
they're working with this is this is
14:11
what we do with Ferrari right now while
14:13
we were in the Ferrari garage at the
14:15
Formula 1 race in in Silverstone uh I
14:18
noticed uh Bit Defender your logo was on
14:22
the what they call the Halo Halo the
14:24
Halo which is kind of their modern
14:26
version of a roll bar I guess so it's
14:28
definitely protecting their head yeah in
14:32
a in a very blunt way but what attracted
14:35
you to Ferrari in the first place we
14:38
believe uh as we actually started the
14:40
discussion that the engineering to build
14:43
a race car and to drive a race car and
14:46
the amount of speeds that they're
14:47
driving it's all about you know decision
14:50
making the Ingenuity The Innovation and
14:53
so on and these are similar values to
14:55
what we have in Vint vender we believe a
14:57
lot of in innovation but also things
14:59
that I do in my team with the Cyber
15:01
investigations where we have to think
15:03
fast in order to see what if there's a
15:05
crime being committed on so on so it was
15:08
rather a decision of similar values and
15:11
that's why we decided on the Halo
15:12
because that's referring to actual
15:14
protection and exactly what we do as
15:16
well you see what Alex is saying there
15:19
that there is this resonance
15:21
between what he does in his everyday
15:24
life in cyber security and how Ferrari
15:27
go about being a a leader within Formula
15:31
1 racing Alex thank you so much you've
15:33
been superb with us now Gary I got a
15:35
level with you I'm born and raised in
15:37
New York City we don't have
15:38
relationships with cars it's a very late
15:42
in life thing yeah I to learn that till
15:45
I was 25 you know I have some fluency
15:47
now cuz I'm intrigued that it is a thing
15:50
yeah but it was never sort of native to
15:52
my to my my core being but to see all
15:56
the engineering which boosts my interest
15:58
in it yeah it's not just four wheels
16:00
it's like the the aerospace engineering
16:02
mechanical engineering the material
16:04
science that goes into it uh it's a
16:07
science project
16:09
[Applause]
16:09
[Music]
16:22
[Music]
16:37
[Music]
— end of transcript —
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