Sbinnala, also known as Sbinalla, is a slang term used by the Formula One community to describe the act of a car and driver spinning out during a race. The word stems from the Italian “Spinnare,” which loosely translates to “spin it and bit it,” but it can also be used to describe other types of flubs and fails during auto races. When people ask “What is sbinnala?” often the reply that coincides with the meme is “It’s a meme from the future. You can’t get the reference yet.” The term was popularized primarily on Reddit by the /r/formuladank community.

The use of this term appears online as early as September 10th, 2019, when Redditor[1] Alphamaxnova1 posted a video using the term to the /r/formuladank subreddit. Alphamaxnova1 uses the term around the 22-second mark while portraying a parody conversation between Formula One drivers and their teams shortly before footage shows one of them spinning out and crashing. This post also contains the spelling of sbinnala with a “B” emoji, s🅱️innala, which is one of its most common forms of reference.