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[What's Burning?]

Nice little analysis from Peter Windsor on turn 9 styles in Bahrain.

[Hammer278]

To summarize that video, it's basically pointing out the more experienced drivers knowing to take more of a go-kart line through that corner for more carry-through speed rather than an F1 line which Kevin's doing.

[racechick]

It was interesting. But he took a long time to say, it's actually quicker if you don't cut the corner too much.

[spankyham]

The result would be the team sees the real lap time that would be faster than the official time recorded and that everyone else would see. Very convoluted, I don't see that much value really, but in theory it would work.

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Ok, but in that case why not do this - Do the first sector as fast as you can, then back right off in the middle, then do the final sector as fast as you can then back off, then do the middle sector as fast as you can

or start your lap at the final sector carry on into the first and middle and wash out the last sector

Result on the timing boards you have 2 bad laps but on your own computers you have the true fast lap.
Much cheaper and easier to implement, ofcourse someone might notice but surely they gonna notice your speed in quali anyway?

You can do that, but it makes any long run difficult to garner data. If you follow the logic proposed, you can even do a race sim and have the official lap times not reflect your true lap times.

[spankyham]

Except that you'd get somewhat skewed results since slowing down and then being up to speed by the next transponder has to have an effect on the total lap time regardless of where you begin timing.

Not really. You need to bear in mind that there are lots of transponders (not just three to cover each sector). There are transponders at the start and other points of each corner in many circuits. Also remember that you can move your "start" point for each lap. I.E. I can make transponder 15 (T15) my start point for lap 1, T17 for lap 2, T18 for lap 3, T15 for lap 4. In this case the driver can back of for 1 T, then pick it up again and hit another flying lap. In the above scenario only one sector on Lap 4 would be meaningless for the team, yet no other team would know your true lap times.

Having explained all that I just can't bring myself to believe any team would go to that much trouble to hide a lap time when there are so many other variables they can easily play with and, in the end, no other teams knows your variables anyway. I'm not convinced there's value in this.

[CookinFlat6]

Domenically says Ferrari are behind Merc and Williams. Do you really think he is sandbagging? If they have more speed they know about does that extra hidden speed put them still behind or ahead?

Why didnt they show their true 1 lap pace when Alonso used the SS? They still have top speed and yet 1 second behind Merc - this for me cannot be explained away by transponder magic.
They have a low DF setup with less drag on the straights, but its costing a sec in the corners full stop.

Must mean they cant run more DF because of either high fuel consumption or tyre deg

[spankyham]

Maybe Ferrari are just running a low down force configuration? Low drag, low down force, high top end, slow on corners

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If they are running a low DF setup then there must be a big reason. Either they are chewing tyres or drinking too much petrol with more DF. If they increase the DF enough to reduce the top speed to that of Merc then they must be losing something in the low and high speed corners that is even more than they would lose with the high speed low DF setup

It must be that they are not fuel efficient at the lower speeds

For sure they ran nearly all tests with low down-force and simple wing configurations. Most of the time they ran a basic 3 element zero in/out wash front wing. They bolted on 7 element front wings, and complex rear wings, but simply did the minimum aero runs (presumably to validate wind tunnel and CFD data) and then took them off. Ditto for their diffuser and floors. Ferrari most definitely ran nearly the whole time in low df simple aero mode. I think that reflects their heavy emphasis on aeros and being sure of their CFD and wt data.

As you say that may well be for fuel economy reasons. It wouldn't be for tire preservation because low df will chew tires faster, so from a tire perspective if they ran low d-f and didn't suffer more significant tire deg then that would be a positive for the team. It can't be for better drive-ability because with these engines they need all the grip they can muster as soon as you want to put the power down. It would more rigorously test the gearbox and engine. On the very long straight at Bahrain, with low df you will hit your peak revs earlier and longer as well as push through all your gears faster and longer.

[spankyham]

Domenically says Ferrari are behind Merc and Williams. Do you really think he is sandbagging? If they have more speed they know about does that extra hidden speed put them still behind or ahead?

Why didnt they show their true 1 lap pace when Alonso used the SS? They still have top speed and yet 1 second behind Merc - this for me cannot be explained away by transponder magic.
They have a low DF setup with less drag on the straights, but its costing a sec in the corners full stop.

Must mean they cant run more DF because of either high fuel consumption or tyre deg

Sandbagging thoughts are as silly as putting focus on one lap time. SD is straight forward. He might talk about the things he wants others to focus on and not talk about the things he wants to keep to himself. But he is honest with his statements. Therefore, you can be fairly sure that him saying Ferrari is behind Merc and Williams will be accurate.

On one lap speed I think it is more than a second that Merc has on Ferrari at this point in time. But equally that doesn't bother me in the slightest

[CookinFlat6]

As you say that may well be for fuel economy reasons. It wouldn't be for tire preservation because low df will chew tires faster, so from a tire perspective if they ran low d-f and didn't suffer more significant tire deg then that would be a positive for the team.

Low Df in the corners would cause excessive slip and slide leading to tyre deg as well as driveability deg. However high DF might be causing imbalance between front and rear in the fast corners leading to excessive tyre deg in the front or rear

[spankyham]

As you say that may well be for fuel economy reasons. It wouldn't be for tire preservation because low df will chew tires faster, so from a tire perspective if they ran low d-f and didn't suffer more significant tire deg then that would be a positive for the team.

Low Df in the corners would cause excessive slip and slide leading to tyre deg as well as driveability deg. However high DF might be causing imbalance between front and rear in the fast corners leading to excessive tyre deg in the front or rear

Tires degrade from any use. But deg is far worse with low df.

[1Lemon]

[Hammer278]

MOTHER of reliability! Well that kinda puts things in perspective doesn't it? Good for Williams.

Merc did have 2-3 'sensor' issues though, practically nothing but I bet if those were taken out their average shoots up quite a bit.

[CookinFlat6]

I wonder if Williams have exploited the relationship with Toto, as well as the Mac to Honda scenario, to have effectively become the Merc B team. Now Im not saying there is anything underhanded going on but it could be fair to assume that some customers are treated more 'equally'

No matter, its great to see Franks team doing what he did so well before, getting good deals and doing some slick and bold engineering

[LewEngBridewell]

No matter, its great to see Franks team doing what he did so well before, getting good deals and doing some slick and bold engineering

Cheers to that!

[1Lemon]

I hope that chart didn't include Mercs sensor changes as that surely doesn't count as a mechanical stoppage. But still that may have only bumped them above Marussia anyway.