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[genericmustard]

I apologize in advance if this has been discussed or is too ridiculous of a question to be considered. But I only started watching F1 in 2014 and have been somewhat feverish lately in trying to learn as much as I can. Here goes: I was watching a circuit guide for the Gilles-Villenueve and they pointed out two areas of the track and labeled them "Intermediate 1" and "Intermediate 2". So the question is this... What are these and what role do they play in the race? Is that just another term for the DRS detection? Again, sorry to come off as a noob. But I'm so enamored by the technicality of the sport, it seems I can't soak enough knowledge up to satisfy. Thank you.

[darwin dali]

Hi gm and welcome to our Forum

The two intermediates split the circuit into 3 sectors. You may remember hearing from the TV announcers something like "Vettel was purple in sector one". That means he was the fastest in that first sector, i.e., his time from the beginning of the lap to the Intermediate 1 was the shortest of all drivers. Other drivers may be fastest in other sectors, which often depends on the nature of those sectors (lots of straights with emphasis on top speed/engine power or very curvy with emphasis on downforce/chassis), so it's interesting to compare those sectors between drivers/cars.

[genericmustard]

Ohhh. Great. Thanks so much for the help. I thought I had sectors down, lol, but as always with F1 there's something else I can learn about something I thought I had down pat. Thanks for the welcome and the info. Greatly appreciated!