You only need the ones your document uses. A Japanese PDF will only need F3. A multilingual CAD drawing may need all four.
The official fonts used by Formula 1, Formula 2, and Formula 3 are custom-commissioned proprietary assets.
sudo apt install fonts-noto-cjk
Or manually place .otf files in ~/.local/share/fonts/ and run fc-cache -fv.
Distributing commercial fonts (like Adobe fonts or Microsoft Windows built-in fonts) for free is illegal. However, there are open-source, free, and legally distributable CID-keyed fonts that perfectly substitute F1, F2, F3, and F4. cid font f1 f2 f3 f4 free link download
Below are direct, safe, and free links for downloading equivalent CID fonts.
Meta Description: Searching for a "cid font f1 f2 f3 f4 free link download"? This guide explains what CID fonts are, the difference between F1, F2, F3, and F4 variants, and how to safely acquire them for graphic design, printing, or CAD work.
In the PDF specification, fonts are resources. A typical internal structure looks like this: You only need the ones your document uses
Crucial Distinction: "F1" is not the font's name. It is a handle. The PDF reader looks up "F1" in the document's resource dictionary to find the actual font name (e.g., AdobeHeitiStd-Regular).
While most are paid, there are legal free alternatives and sources. Here is how to get CID-style functionality for zero cost.
CID stands for Character Identifier. Unlike standard fonts that use a simple index (like ‘A’ = 1), CID fonts map thousands of characters (e.g., Kanji, Hanzi) to unique numeric IDs. This makes them essential for: The official fonts used by Formula 1, Formula
When you see F1, F2, F3, F4 inside a PDF’s font list, those are just internal tags—placeholders. For example:
Without the actual font files installed, your computer shows gibberish (or blank boxes) instead of the original text.
