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The Formula 1 World Championship has been running for more than 74 years and in that time, it’s become considerably more complex than when 26 drivers first took to the grid at Silverstone for the inaugural race, and this tends to produce more questions than answers, especially for those fans who are newer to the sport.

But even those who have been following F1 for decades are unlikely to know everything, and that’s where the #FifthDriver, F1’s most knowledgeable nameless racer, comes in handy.

Our anonymous trackside pundit and analyst’s extensive expertise - and vast contacts book - means they can answer pretty much any question we put in front of them, whether that means wracking their brains or reaching out to phone a friend.

Every race weekend, the #FifthDriver answers your questions. Here are some of his favourites from the 2024 Formula 1 season so far…

@norrisprix: How many people are needed behind the scenes to make everything run smoothly for a successful race weekend?

There are layers to this. As a racing team, we’re allowed 58 personnel at the track to work on the car, and across the season, we are allowed 16 exceptions for trainees (though no trainee may do more than three events). Beyond this, there’s no limit to how many people we can have at the circuit, and that number is probably doubled once the catering, hospitality, logistics, marketing, and communications staff are included.

And the staff at the track wouldn’t be able to do anything without the hundreds more back at the factory, who are also required for everything to run smoothly at a race weekend.

Most teams will be broadly similar in this – but it takes a lot more to have a successful weekend. F1 functions as a village, with thousands of people travelling every week, from the FIA’s technical department to Formula 1’s camera teams. The circuits have staff as well, from firemen to paddock services, to a fully equipped medical centre. We also depend on an army of volunteer marshals, without whom motorsport simply wouldn’t happen.

@Vanny80159301: Why do the drivers weigh themselves with the helmet?

This relates to the Technical Regs, article 4.6 of which demands a minimum driver mass of 80kg. This is made up of the driver, plus his helmet, overalls, boots, and any other kit. If that doesn’t add up to the required minimum, ballast has to be added in a specific slot under the seat.

The recent regs have been written this way to prevent heavier drivers from being disadvantaged. This is less a sporting initiative and more a safety measure: before these regs, in an effort to keep car weight down, the heavier drivers tended to diet excessively. At very hot, very humid races, this caused a few health issues. The 80kg minimum is designed to ensure everyone can race at a healthy weight.

@piastris814: Will some team members be switching out for others as the season is very long?

The short answer is yes. An element of rotation has crept in over the last few years, and the trackside team has done a lot of cross-training to make it more flexible. It’s been mooted for the last decade since the number of races went north of 20 for the first time, but Covid sped up the process, with the ever-present threat of whole bubbles being stood down for a positive test making it a necessity.

It's become normalised to the extent that very few people will now do the full 24 races and tests – though not travelling to a race doesn’t necessarily mean not working on the race. In many instances – particularly in the race engineering department – those absent from the track will be working back in Mission Control.

@SophH3100: What kind of chaos would occur if you mixed tyres on the cars? For example: Mediums on the front and Hards on the back.

When this happens, it’s usually the product of chaos, with a late decision to change spec not reaching all the tyre runners in time. The cars are required to use only predetermined sets, and the rules are that, when mistakes are made, the car cannot cross the line more than twice before returning to the pit box to fit the correct tyres.

If the teams were allowed to mix-and-match their tyre compounds, that would happen on a regular basis, as used to be the case. Different specs front and rear would certainly help better balance the car. For example, in Miami, a more exotic specification might have a team want to run a harder compound on the front-right only.

@tayl4ndo: Do you look at last year’s results and data when going into a Grand Prix, and how does that help when the car is better than it was?

The previous season’s results are a central plank of planning for a race. How useful that data is when the car is much better (or much worse) than it was the previous year, depends very much on who you ask.

For the race engineers, it makes very little difference. The relative competitiveness of the car doesn’t impact how they go about choosing aero settings, cooling packages, ride heights and suspension stiffnesses.

Ask the strategists, however, and yes, for them, the data becomes much less useful – because a competitive car operates on a different level. It might require fewer runs in Qualifying, for example. Or, changing the tyre allocation as it has a greater capacity to overtake and less reliance on track position - it’s also usually in a better position to look after its tyres.

@vivi_04: How long does it usually take from the Chequered Flag to pack everything up and have everything set up and ready for another race weekend?

Different ways to answer that! For a normal Sunday afternoon race, the intention would be to have the cars disassembled and stowed, and the garage and kit packed down into flight cases, leaving just the empty space, at some point between 23:00 and midnight. It’s usually an all-hands job – even senior engineers will be donning a hi-vis and filling boxes after their debriefs, if they’re not dashing off to catch a flight. If we have Red Flags, rain delays etc., then it’s a late night at the track.

De-rigging the engineers’ Race Base offices above the race trucks takes rather longer because it requires a crane, and that can’t get into the circuit until Monday morning – but this isn’t a job for the trackside race team, instead it’s done by the contractor who looks after that set-up.

The team has six identical sets of garage equipment that can be alternated between, when there isn’t enough time to set it all up for the next race. For example, one set was used in Monaco and Hungary and another in Spain and at Silverstone.

Once the European season finishes with the Dutch and Italian Grands Prix, those two garage sets will be packed into shipping containers to join the other four sets already at sea to get us through the long sequence of flyaway races at the end of the season.

If you want your questions answered, keep an eye out on X in the lead-up to every Grand Prix. Ahead of each round, we'll ask for questions on X. Simply reply with the #FifthDriver hashtag, and we’ll see it. The best #FifthDriver questions from every round are given a prize.