The real cause of F1 cars shooting sparks during races

Sparks are known to shoot out of Formula 1 vehicles during races, and there’s a very excellent reason for this phenomena.

The 2024 Formula 1 season kicked off with three-time world champion Max Verstappen taking the top spot at the Bahrain Grand Prix. During races, it often looks like sparks are shooting out from the back of the cars – but this is all part of their clever design.

If you’ve ever watched F1 cars zooming around high-tech tracks worldwide, you might have spotted the sparks. F1 cars have a special feature called a plank underneath them, which runs from the back to just before the front wheels.

The FIA introduced the plank to try and reduce under-body aerodynamics. It’s also there to stop the car from scraping along the ground on the straights.

You might think such a design would be made of carbon fibre or some other fancy material, but the plank is actually made from a type of wood called Jabroc. It’s made from beechwood in a composite process using veneers and resin on ea

The sparks come from titanium skid blocks embedded in the plank. These skid blocks, first used in the 1980s and 1990s and brought back into the sport in 2015, help protect the plank from damage, sticking out by up to 3mm.

When a car spins out, the skid blocks hit the ground first, causing a shower of sparks to fly out behind it.

The sparks are there to protect the car. The plank helps teams make sure they have the right ride height and also adds to ‘ground effect’ aerodynamics – a system from the 1960s that pulls the car down onto the road.

When F1 cars zoom down a straight, they are pushed into the track by something called downforce. The car’s design makes air flow over it, which pushes it down to create downforce and make the car lower.

With more downforce, F1 cars can go around corners faster because of sideways movement. But there’s no sideways movement on a straight; so the design forces the car lower, making the plank touch the track and cause sparks.

Amazingly, the skid blocks lessen the damage to the plank. After the race, the plank is carefully measured following FIA rules – and too much damage means disqualification.