Every sport has rules and the reason they exist is to create a fair environment for competition. Some rules are created as the main description of this sport itself. Like in racing, who gets to the finish line first wins, you have to stay on the layout, not cut corners, the cars have to have a specific power and weight and so on. But the rules I want to talk about here are the ones that limit what we can do while fighting for position. Like the other ones, they were created to prevent unfair advantages and to level the playing field so that everyone has the same chance.

Understanding the Purpose of Racing Rules

But here is what's really important. The rules in racing were created to control abusive driving and unfair advantages. That means they create a boundary of which we must take full advantage of. The very reason these rules were created was to prevent drivers from creating unfair situations for others. So we can use these rules as signs of what we should actually do, which is to get as close as possible to their own boundaries. Exploit the rules. A good racer takes advantage of the rules to the extreme without breaching them.

So here are some of the main rules that we will focus on in this lesson and how to exploit them. Remember that some of these rules can change a little bit from series to series.

The One Move Rule

Let's start with the one move rule. Any driver defending his position on the straight and before any breaking area may use the full width of the track during his first move provided no significant portion of the car attempting to pass is alongside his. That means if there's no overlap, you can use all the track once. As a defender, you can choose what line you're going to take inside or outside. That's the simplest way to describe this rule.

Practical Application of the One Move Rule

In this example, we have a corner to the right. I'm attacking the driver ahead. At this point, he knows I'm going to try something because of the draft, because of the exit speed that I got from the corner before. And right now in this fraction of a second, he can still decide to use whatever he wants. So he has to take a decision right now as a defender and he can go here or he can go all the way to the inside. If he wants, he can go to the middle. It's up to him.

Now, what happens is as soon as he goes here, he has taken the decision to go to the right. I'm about to get overlap. Now, as soon as I go to the outside, I have taken my decision to go that way. He cannot go back and give me no space on the left because he has already taken his decision to use this side. If he did go this way and pushed me off, because that's his second move that is considered blocking.

Also, he can only do that because there was absolutely no overlap before. So by the time he changed direction, I was not side by side yet. So he had the right to go all the way to the inside, give me no space to take in my car here. And then I would have to change direction and go all the way to the outside and try passing on the outside.

What Constitutes Blocking

Now, here's an example of blocking. The driver took way too long to go all the way to the right when I was about to overtake. And I already had that extra speed. I was already going to get there. And then by the time he turns in, there is almost already some overlap. And even though there isn't still officially overlap by the time he changes direction, he would be definitely deemed that fault by all the stewards, because there would be no time for me to react, except for actually going to the grass and putting myself in big danger here.

In this situation, he should have gone to the inside right now. That's pretty much the limit that he had, so that I could have time to decide which line I'm going to take instead of deciding, committing to go to the inside, and then having him going all the way to the inside and putting me in this dangerous situation. So this here, although there is no one move rule involved, this is also considered blocking.

Movement During Braking

Note that these rules are before the braking starts happening. Actually, if you start braking, both cars are breaking hard into the straight line, then you're technically not allowed to change direction during the braking. Even if you have not done any change in direction, at that point, moving under braking is not allowed. But you can actually do it a little bit, and we're going to talk about that in the next lesson.

Rights to Track Position: Apex and Exit Rules

This here is going to be quite controversial for most people. We have to talk about that. There are generally two sets of rules when it comes to who has the right to the track, both on Apex and Exit. For example, in this image that I got from a Formula One website explaining the Formula One rules, who do you think is at fault in this context?

You can see that there is definitely overlap here. So the cars already have some sort of overlap, and they definitely have the overlap here, but the blue car goes all the way to the Apex and does not give any space to the car on the inside. If you ask most people, especially in the iRacing, in the sim, probably we would deem the blue car at fault. But according to the Formula One rules, the red car is at fault here, because the amount of overlap is not significant enough for the red car to have the right to the Apex.

Formula One Rules vs. General Rules

When I realized that, as I was studying to make these lessons for you guys, I was like, interesting. That's why drivers like Max Verstappen are considered so aggressive, because he goes by the rules to the limit. Whenever you find a situation like that, and he does not give the space, and people say, "Oh, he didn't leave me space," or he pushed me off track, he was actually following the rules. And that's why he does not get the penalties, because he is 100% aware of what rules that series have.

So let's divide the rules into the general ones and the Formula One ones. And then I would strongly advise you to try to follow the general run, which is, if you have overlap, give one car space. This is the safest rule that you guaranteed will get away with in any series. So in a situation where there is some overlap here, that can even be dangerous for you. If you try to close the door, you can be pit-maneuvered, and you can spin yourself. But depending on the series, depending on how aggressive the drivers are, you can choose to use the Formula One rules. You actually have to even ask, what are the rules in place for the specific series you are using?

For this course, I am not going to use the Formula One rules. I am going to use the general ones and how to exploit those. This will guarantee that you can get away with your racecraft skill and with your aggressiveness in any series in the world.

Different Overlap Scenarios

Now, just to recap this situation here, the driver on the inside does not have enough of an overlap to have the right to the apex. Now a different situation would be this. Now the car on the inside has, I would say, a more, definitely more significant overlap, where the front wing of the car on the inside is literally ahead of half of the outside car. And according to Formula One rules, this is a racing incident, where both drivers share faults at the incident, which for me, I find mind-boggling. And I would definitely not recommend that you follow these rules, unless you are a Formula One driver.

In this situation here, I would consider that the car on the outside is at fault, and most stewards in sim racing events and leagues. And in most series would also consider that, because there is significant overlap. So the general rule is in this scenario, as the car on the outside, you should leave one car space.

And then finally, we have one scenario where the Formula One rules, consider the car on the outside as the one at fault, because there is a hundred percent overlap. And then in this situation, the county outside must give a full car space. And again, in my opinion, even on that first example, where you had just a little bit of overlap, I would already consider giving one car space, just to make sure that you don't cause a crash.

Dive Bombs and Track Position

Okay, so this means that if you have the track position by the apex, you deserve to have the space. But what if you just brake super far away, and then you kind of tuck your car in super fast and claim the apex for yourself? Well, that's called a dive bomb, and there's going to be a full lesson just about that. We're going to get into details where to do it, where to not do it. What's a good dive bomb, what's a bad dive bomb. For now, what you just need to know is that the closer you are, right before you start braking, the safer the dive bomb would be, and the more valid it's going to be, your right to take the apex.

Medium Risk Dive Bomb Example

Let's watch this example where the driver is actually pretty far away. And he starts braking, he realizes that the driver's head is actually taking a nap. So he goes to the inside and then he sees the space, the driver is really not turning in. I'm going to call this a medium risk dive bomb. It was not a regular dive bomb where you start braking and already go to the inside and start gaining the track position during the braking phase. The sky actually breaks quite early, but he realizes that the car head is way too slow, more than necessary. And then he goes to the inside because he sees that this driver is really over slowing, and he's going to take the chance to go all the way to the inside.

He's going to give even some space, but the time this driver realizes that he's being dive bomb, he even kind of like turns a little bit to the left. So I'm going to call this a medium risk dive bomb. I would probably do that if I started braking on a race start and realize that someone ahead is just being overly cautious or being, you know, taking a nap. This is why actually the driver ahead has put himself in a dangerous position by being so slow and by being ultra cautious, maybe with cold tires, maybe again, overwhelmed with the race situation.

Successful Dive Bomb Execution

But in this situation here, you see that the dive bomb happens a little bit later. By the time we get what five cars before the apex, there is already significant overlap. And this was a clean move, although I will still call it medium risk. But honestly being the green car, I would have done that move a thousand times in a row.

Just a small tip though, here he kind of like tried to give too much space on the exit. But at this point, look at this. There's no overlap. You have the right to use all the track at this point here. You can go all the way, you can follow the pack. There's not going to be any overlap. There's a danger in trying to give unnecessary space because if you do so, you don't carry speed. And now you can see how the car that he had overtaken now is a little bit faster and reclaims the position. And then this happens.

So you see, you have to figure out where you can use all the track, where you have the right to use all the track. You're clear at this point, just accelerate and go wide so you can carry your own speed and be safe. See, gave too much space. And now he decided to move to the left. A little bit too late and ended up crashing himself.

Corner Exit Rules and Track Position

When it comes to corner exit, the rules are actually pretty similar. In Formula One, if you have the car more or less like this, then you have the right to take the apex of the car on the outside has to yield actually. So if you do this and you push the car outside, but you just have that tiny bit of overlap, according to Formula One rules, that is fine. And the car on the inside can push the other drivers on the outside because the driver on the outside did not have significant overlap to have the right to that corner exit space.

In a general rule, again, same thing. I do not recommend that you push other drivers on the outside like that, because if the driver on the outside continues to insist, you might pit maneuver yourself, you might crash or you might cause a crash that might not be seen with good eyes by the stewards of that specific series. That's why I recommend the general rules also for corner exit.

Judging Track Position on Exit

You want to accelerate early, gain the track position, and then make sure that you try to clear yourself by the time there is absolutely no overlap. The decision of giving the space on the outside depends so much on two things. First, your track position, where are you related to your opponent at this point and the time of your acceleration. So right now, the car on the outside is a little bit ahead. And if you want to gain the track position by accelerating early and you trust that you're going to gain just so much track position that you're going to clear yourself, you have to really judge this moment here. Because if you don't get enough track position, you're just going to push them off and you're at fault.

Examples of Proper Exit Technique

In this example here, the driver accelerates and then we realize that we will not gain the track position because the car on the outside also accelerated early. The track position here is pretty much unchanged. So we have to leave the space and we leave the space all the way because otherwise we will cause a crash. In a situation like that, it's end up being bad for you because, of course, if you continue having that track position, you're going to carry the battle to the next corner.

So that's why it's so important. If you want to fight less and lose less time, make sure that you put yourself initially in a very good situation so that you can accelerate early and clear yourself. That's the best scenario for your battle so that you make the position without losing too much time. But within the rules, make sure that you are cleared, which means no overlap if you want to use all the track on exit.

Again, this is a general rule. It's a safe one. If you use that, you can get away with most of these passes. No one is going to say that you were, you know, wrong or at fault or anything. It's just good racing.

And this is another very good example of using all the track when you know you can by having, you see, right before I accelerate here, I'm the car on the inside. I see how much track position I have. And pretty much that's the clear run for me. All I need to do is to accelerate early and commit no hesitation at all so that I can push my car wide. At this point, there's absolutely an overlap and I'm using all the track, carrying as much speed as possible, a little bit of overseer correction here. Of course, when you race, you're also on the limit of the balance of the car and finishing the move.

On the next lesson, we're going to talk about battle dynamics and we're going to talk about like all the subtle details of attacking and defending and how you can win.