United States GP - Race Engineers Notes

Austin

Round 17 of the FIA Formula 1 Championship takes place at Austin, Texas.

From its inaugural race in 2012, the Circuit of the Americas has proven to be an immensely popular Grand Prix. Over 110,000 people from across the Americas came to watch the magnificent show that is the United States Grand Prix.

The circuit is mainly a concoction of the world’s most thrilling and challenging corners. The features of Silverstone’s Maggots/Becketts complex, Istanbul’s Turn 8 and Hockenheim’s arena complex are all replicated in this circuit. The circuit also has its own unique touch with the mountainous turn one.

There is much to talk about in this weekend's GP including: the drop out of Marussia and Caterham, Sebastian Vettel missing out on Qualifying and the Q1 chaos that is about to ensue.

Aero Characteristics of Circuit

Sector One begins with a replica Sao Paulo ‘Senna S’ before leading into a Silverstone ‘Maggots Becketts’ complex. Both sets of corners require high downforce to achieve satisfactory change in direction abilities. Due to the high speed nature of this section, a medium/low downforce package will suffice in providing suitable levels of DF. This is where an F1 car works hard and it must not be sluggish or lazy around here; otherwise the whole lap will perish.

Sector Two progresses into a series of fast, tight and aggressive corners, T7, 8 & 9. T11 marks the start of a 1 kilometre DRS straight where we will see the majority of overtakes. 

The nature of Sector One and the first half of Sector Two induces single file racing, and therefore, not much overtaking. The run down to the T11 hairpin will most likely see a good few lunges as people chase each other all the way down from T1.

After the 90 left-hander at the end of the straight, Sector Three begins. The Sector flows straight into a Hockenheim-like arena complex of corners, narrow, fast and very demanding. Medium speed therefore a medium downforce package is required through here. Sector Three also harbours the Istanbul turn 8 copy-cat, which will be demanding max downforce.

There are some large compromises needed to be made as usual. Sector One doesn’t demand too much downforce whereas some corners such as the Istanbul replica do… It’s worth noting that the 1km DRS straight could well solve this problem without any questions, because nobody wants to be the sitting duck with high drag & downforce.

Tyres & Strategy (Wear, options)

Prime – Medium (WHITE)
Option – Soft (YELLOW)

Tyre wear rates at COTA are low, hence Pirelli nominating a relaxed soft & medium combination.

In 2013, the grid ran a one stop race with a one up compound selection (Medium and Hard). After the recent Russian GP, I can’t imagine anyone ever wanting to see a one stop race again.
Dropping the nominated tyres into softer choices means that degradation will increase, thus taking the race out of a one stop race and into a two stop. This is the first time the COTA will see a two stop GP which means that the Engineers have no experience in a two stop strategy around here.

So far this season Daniel Ricciardo has taken two of his three wins during a soft/medium race. If there is any major scuffling up front between the two Mercedes cars, then be sure to keep an eye out on the Honey Badger.

Mechanical Set Up

Sector One and the beginning of Sector Two are extremely demanding on the car. Superb change in direction abilities are required as lateral stability are key.

A low roll centre is one of the things which will be required for a quick Sector One. A low roll centre will ensure that the car is stiff and responsive for the harsh direction changes.

The nature of these first few corners means that the tyres will not be subjected to a long enough time period under lateral stress. If the suspension is set up too stiff, then the tyres will not be able get into a sufficient operating window as the tyres are unable to bite into the circuit. The car will struggle to laterally transfer weight and it’ll be slow through S1.

Aerodynamics provides the majority of ‘grip’ for Sector One, thanks its high speeds.

Sector Three’s ‘Hockenheim Arena’ demands high levels of mechanical grip. It’ll be interesting to see which team has a high performing chassis through this sector. 

Consistent and high levels of medium speed grip will be required, 50% from the aero and 50% from the mechanical set up.

COTA demands many compromises because of the variety of corners. It is a circuit for and overall well balanced car.

Thanks for reading. Please keep an eye out for ‘United States – Race Engineer’s Quali Notes’ on Saturday night, UK time.

Race Engineer’s Notebook – Japan – Part 2

In today’s Part 2 (of three), I’ll be jumping straight into FP2 analysis. In order to keep the blog short but as informative as possible, I will skip analysing FP1 because usually that is the session where teams are still gauging the circuit and conditions, and therefore the FP1 times do not reliably tell us anything regarding overall pace.

FP2 Analysis

 Sector 1

In order of final FP2 position, I have created a graph showing each of the top ten drivers’ Sector 1 times.

Before I go on to analyse, I will quickly mention my earlier predictions of what would happen during Sector 1:

•         Red Bulls would be the closest match to the Mercedes’
•          Ferraris to have similar times to the Williams’

Everyone knows the strengths of the Newey designed RB, and that is high speed cornering. I for one thought that the Red Bull cars would be extremely quick through here because the nature of Sector 1 is purely high speed cornering.

In fact the RB’s were the fourth quickest constructor behind Mercedes, Williams, McLaren and Toro Rosso.
The RB’s seem to be struggling through this sector, which could be down to the deteriorating circuit conditions.

The high aero demands of Sector 1 also highlight Ferrari’s poor aerodynamic efficiency compared to their competitors. Ignoring Ricciardo because of him missing the majority of the session, the two Ferraris were the slowest through S1 in the top 10.
This data helps prove how much of an aerodynamic deficit Ferrari has. Ferrari’s main competitor, Williams, were around 3.5 tenths quicker through this sector alone, which simply cannot be put down to Williams having a Mercedes PU.

McLaren have shown good strength in their aerodynamics and their cars’ agility with K-Mag scoring a fantastic 34.800s. Button finished FP2 4^th overall, but if he could match Magnussen’s 2 tenth superiority through S1, Button could well find himself just as quick as the Williams (if not quicker!).

Kvyat ended up 4th quickest through S1 highlighting the potential in himself and the Toro Rosso - A very impressive Sector indeed.

Sector 2 

In FP2 positions 3rd-8th (BOT-MAG), the drivers were separated by just over 0.2 seconds. This goes to show how tight the competition is immediately behind the Mercedes’.

To begin with, we will look at the slowest person through S2. Kvyat, who was one of the quickest in S1, has now lost a significant amount of time compared to the rest of the top 10. The Toro Rosso is likely struggling with maximising its mechanical grip, as the cars go from T8 and T9 down towards the hairpin.
The final challenge of S2 is the Spoon Curve, which the TR should be able to handle comfortably. As proven in S1, the Toro Rosso is more than capable with high speed cornering.

Ferrari are faster than McLaren in general, which is surprising because I’d expected S2 to be more of an ‘PU Sector’. Obviously McLaren’s Mercedes HPP isn’t going above and beyond for sector two, as Ferrari seem to have their Mechanical Grip and power delivery nailed. RAI, VET and BOT post almost identical Sector 2 times. The Ferrari (Raikkonen) is quick.

In opposite fashion to S1, Button is just under a tenth quicker than Magnussen, but overall, Magnussen is still quicker going into S3.

Sector 3

Sector 3 was dominated by Lewis as he well and truly went HAM.
Alonso is ridiculously quick through here, but we all know how good he is through 130R, so the rest of his S3 is a piece of cake.

Hamilton blew Nico away by almost 2.5 tenths in S3. Considering S3 consists only of a chicane and 130R, you must be quite special to put this sort of delta in between you and your team-mate.
Nico was shockingly slow finishing 5^th fastest in this sector, with no offence meant, but even Button’s Mac was quicker. Maybe he is struggling with braking into the chicane, maybe he’s lifting too much through 130R, who knows? I’d expect Mercedes to correct this issue by qualifying; otherwise we could potentially see another coloured car on the front row.

Alonso has always been quick through this Sector, as he secures 2^nd fastest – very impressive considering the recent performances of the Ferrari against the Red Bulls etc.

Bottas shows how good the Williams’ aerodynamics and stability are as he gets 3^rd fastest. He’s a gutsy driver and this sector suits him.

Qualifying

Qualifying in Japan will be an extremely difficult task for every car in the pit lane. Uncertainty with the weather, and intense competition throughout the field could easily cause a two team front row.

Alonso is continually doing things that nobody believes can be done in the F14T, and partnerships like Bottas and Williams prove extremely hungry to fight for a fight between themselves and the Mercedes. It can’t be forgotten that Williams and Ferrari are in a very close battle for 3^rd place in the WCC. So far in Japan, even though Bottas is superior to the two Ferraris, Massa is struggling to break into the top ten, and therefore, the Ferrari’s have more of a chance to score more points.

The field is incredibly tight this weekend in Japan, and the slightest of mistakes could see a Q3 lap go from 2^nd on the grid to 8^th. The stakes are higher than ever, and with a possibility of an early red flag during Sunday’s race, it makes grid position that much more important.