Formula 1: At 1.88 seconds, this world record-breaking pit stop is nothing short of an Olympic-level feat

Blink and you miss it. In last few weeks, cutting-edge of Formula One techlogy, coupled with old-fashioned muscle and hand-eye co-ordination, has witnessed record-breaking pit stops.

Formula 1 Pit Stop record

At British Grand Prix at Silverstone in mid-July, Red Bull mand to change four wheels of Pierre Gasly's car in a mind-boggling 1.91sec.

However, last weekend at German Grand Prix in Hockenheim, that lightning fast maeuvre was me to look almost pedestrian when Red Bull team got race winner Max Verstappen rebooted in a new world record time of a staggering 1.88sec.

aver in sport is closer to three seconds.

"It's so fast that you do t even have time to see guys change wheels," said Gasly.

"You are focussed on light (which tells driver that he can start off again) you are alrey pressing on accelerator. It is an incredible job on part of mechanics." 

Until this season, previous record was 1.92sec, jointly held by Red Bull at 2013 US Grand Prix on car of Australian driver Mark Webber and Williams at European Grand Prix in 2016 in Azerbaijan with Brazil's Felipe Massa at wheel.

"Going under two seconds is difficult because we are touching limits of human performance," said Red Bull boss Christian Horner.

"It's like 100m. We are still beating record, but progress is becoming slimmer and slimmer." It's all a far cry from days when cars stopped in pits only when it was necessary.

Evolution of Formula 1 Pit Stops

modern idea of a pit stop was first carried out by Brabham team in 1982 season who used it at Austrian Grand Prix in August that year.

At time, besides changing tyres in about seven seconds, cars were also refuelled which took around 15 seconds in total.

Mid-race refuelling was banned in F1 between 1984 and 1994 (mainly for safety reasons) and again since 2010 (mainly for financial reasons).

w, teams will pit cars at least once in a race, more often in rain.

Faster and faster Pit Stops from 'Training, training and more training' 

"With new tyres, you are going a lot faster, so if you lose 20 seconds in pit lane, you can still catch up on track," said Horner.

objective is to gain eugh time over your opponent in pits to eventually gain a crucial edge back on track, especially with overtaking proving to be at a premium at most races.

"So you have to choose right time for a pit stop and do it as quickly as possible," ded Horner.

"So we need to be able to rely 100% on those who carry m out." He ded: "Every stop involves about 25 people and everyone has to work in a perfectly synchronised way.

" driver has to stop in exactly right place, equipment has to run smoothly and mechanics need to be in complete harmony" to unscrew nuts, remove old wheels, fit new wheels and screw in more nuts.

In 2010, a pit stop took about four seconds. Very quickly, this was slashed in half.

"Since end of refuelling, we have been focussed entirely on speed of changing tyres," ded Horner.

Developments in techlogy have also been crucial.

For example, teams have perfected power guns used to unscrew and screw in wheels.

" equipment plays a key role, of course, but human factor is much more important," insisted Red Bull chief.

"It's training, training and more training. It's hard to quantify, but mechanics train almost every day at factory and of course on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays during a Grand Prix weekend."