Formula 1 drivers and their teams have to be prepared for any weather conditions and adapt their race plan according to the weather forecast.

Success in Formula 1 relies a lot on the preparation of the car and technical skill of the driver and his support team.

Decisions about what features to include on a car in a particular race can make a big difference to the end positions and how successful a team is.

Race will usually go ahead regardless of the weather - except for extreme storms - and drivers and their teams have to be prepared to plan ahead and adapt their race plan accordingly.

Varying conditions

The Formula 1 season sees races take place all over the world on a range of circuits and climates - from the heat of the desert in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi to the often rain-affected venues of Silverstone in Britain, Belgium's Spa and Suzuka in Japan.

One race could be in scorching conditions and the next could be cold and wet and the teams have to be able to adapt; for practice on day one of the event and, even more importantly, for qualifying and race day itself.

Strong wind - particularly crosswinds on long straights - can affect a car's handling and balance.

In hot weather, the temperature in the cockpit can easily climb above 50 Celsius and the drivers need to be fit to cope with dehydration.

However, rain brings the greatest difficulties, particularly with the choice of tyres.

Tyres

For the support teams it can be a bit of a guessing game before the race to decide which kind of tyres to put on the cars.

If there is rain around wet tyres, which have grooves in them (similar to normal car tyres) are probably the best because they allow water to run off them. They help avoid the risk of the car aquaplaning - sliding across the wet surface.

Wet tyres are very different to dry tyres, which have much shallower grooves in them allowing for more contact with the track surface and therefore enabling the car to go faster.

In drier conditions, the race will be run a lot faster and more overtaking will be possible - depending on the circuit, of course.

Choosing the wrong tyres can make a big difference to race positions. For example, if a race starts in the wet drivers will start with wet tyres, but if the track dries teams will start to switch to dry tyres.

The timing of such a switch can be crucial. Just one lap on the wrong tyre can knock seconds from a driver's time and cost him race positions - but one lap in the rain on dry tyres will see a loss of grip and could lead to spinning off.

The situation is further complicated at long tracks such as Spa, where it can be raining on one part of the circuit and dry on another.

Other problems associated with the wet

As well as considering what tyres to use, the wet means the drivers have to use a lot more skill to handle the increasing demands the water can put on them.

In wetter weather, the speed the drivers go at will be reduced. It will, therefore have an effect on where they overtake and the distance they can make between themselves and the driver behind.

Wet weather on the track also means visibility will be dramatically reduced. Spray coming off the car in front will affect how far drivers can see.

Not only will it have an impact on how well they can see the driver ahead, it will also reduce their ability to see the drivers behind and this could be a disadvantage if they are not expecting someone to be as close as they are.

If there is a lot of water on the track, the team may decide to lift the front of the car higher off the ground, which will slow the car down because the aerodynamics will be reduced, but it will keep the car above the level of the surface water.