The contactWhere two or more cars come together. Due to the speed and delicate construction of F1 cars, most contact will... There's more... patch is the area of the tyre that is in contact with the track surface. This is the area that provides the car’s mechanical gripGrip is the magic that holds the car on the road as it accelerates, turns and brakes at extreme levels.... There's more... that the drivers push to its absolute limit.
When the forces exceed the grip, the contact patch is broken and the car no longer has grip. Or in other words, it is in a skid or a slide which will result in lost time, a lost position, contact with another car or a crash.