November 2011
3 posts
RACE STRATEGIES IN BRAZIL
This is our final Strategy Report of the 2011 season, looking not just at how the key decisions were made in Brazil, but also at the trends we have seen in 2011 and what we see as the likely trends for 2012.
The Brazilian Grand Prix brought to an end a season which has seen Formula 1 run to a quite different pattern in terms of Race Strategy, largely due to the Pirelli tyres. But also because...
RACE STRATEGIES IN ABU DHABI
This weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was very interesting from the point of view of Race Strategy, with six different strategies in the top ten finishers.
Pre race predictions of two stops were the norm, but there was a wide variety of alternatives tried, with Mark Webber doing three stops en route to fourth place and Paul di Resta scoring a points for ninth using a one-stop plan.
We also...
RACE STRATEGIES IN INDIA
Although this was not a thrilling race, it was an intriguing one from a strategy point of view because of the difference between the two types of tyres each driver had to use. Like many races this year, it didn’t turn out the way pre-race expectations had predicted. In fact it was quite a surprise.
At the front, Vettel always had something in hand over Button. Although the McLaren was closer...
October 2011
2 posts
RACE STRATEGIES IN KOREA
The Korean Grand Prix was a fascinating race from a strategy point of view, with many talking points and there have been lots of questions from fans about whether Mark Webber could have won the race if he hadn’t pitted at the same time as Lewis Hamilton or whether Fernando Alonso could have got on the podium if he’d been released from behind Felipe Massa, as he was in Suzuka. Hopefully the...
RACE STRATEGIES IN JAPAN
The Japanese Grand Prix was all about race strategy. With tyre wear much more tricky to manage than expected, throughout the field the drivers who succeeded were the ones whose teams got the strategy right, not just on race day but on qualifying day too.
There were some pretty contrasting races at the front. Of the top three, Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull had the worst tyre performance and...
September 2011
3 posts
RACE STRATEGIES IN SINGAPORE
Strategy wise, this race didn’t turn out as expected. The key consideration for the strategists on Sunday was thermal degradation of the tyres, especially the rears. This is due to the surface temperature of the tyres being very high, due to braking, traction and very heavy fuel loads at the start. With Singapore being a high fuel consumption track, cars were over 10 kilos heavier at the start...
RACE STRATEGIES IN ITALY
Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix was one of the best races of the season from the point of view of wheel to wheel combat.
But because of the unique nature of the Monza circuit, it also featured some fascinating decision-making by teams on race strategy, not just in terms of tyre strategy and pit stops, but also in terms of how to set up the cars, particularly wing level and gearing.
With top...
RACE STRATEGIES IN BELGIAN
The Belgian Grand Prix was one of the most interesting races of the season from a strategy point of view, with the top four finishers using four different strategies. Most of the practice was run in wet conditions, so no-one had any tyre data and therefore raceday was a voyage into the unknown.
How long would the soft tyre last? How much slower would the medium tyre be than the soft per lap?
...
August 2011
1 post
RACE STRATEGIES IN HUNGARY
The Hungarian Grand Prix was a fantastic race, again very close between the top four cars, any one of which could have won it. The closeness of competition and changeable conditions made it another race where strategy was the decisive element.
The winner put together the right combination of decisions, based on the data assembled in practice and a judgement when a sudden shower fell late in...
July 2011
1 post
RACE STRATEGIES IN GERMANY
The German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring featured three drivers in different cars closely matched on performance. As the winner Lewis Hamilton observed, it was all about being perfect and not making mistakes and this was as true of the strategists and the pit crews as it was of the drivers.
In the end it came down to some inspired driving and finely balanced strategy calls. But further down...
June 2011
2 posts
RACE STRATEGIES IN VALENCIA
The European Grand Prix at Valencia was the least exciting race of the season so far from the point of view of spectacle.
But from a race strategy point of view it was quite interesting. It was less frantic than some of the races we have experienced so far this year and, surprisingly, there was no safety car. As a result the teams had some time to consider their options during the race.
Many...
RACE STRATEGIES IN CANADA
By common consent, the Canadian Grand Prix this year was an absolute classic. It had everything; great racing, safety cars, rain, collisions and some very tight strategy calls, often with little data with which to work.
Button: A brilliant victory (Darren Heath/McLaren)
The strategists were really tested on Sunday and it made for a fascinating race. Jenson Button won despite a drive...
May 2011
3 posts
RACE STRATEGIES IN MONACO
Each race we look in depth at the strategies and analyse the decisions taken in the heat of battle and sometimes we see teams and drivers taking big risks. We also see the part that luck can play in the outcome.
Both are particularly true when you are trying to get a good result in Monaco. All the strategists know that there is a 71% chance of a safety car here and if it falls at the right time...
RACE STRATEGIES IN SPAIN
This year’s Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona was widely heralded as one of the most exciting largely due to the way strategies played out, meaning that an intense battle for the lead developed in the final third of the race.
Also we saw the pole sitter Mark Webber dropping to fourth place, Fernando Alonso, the leader on lap one, finishing in fifth place a lap down on the winner and the...
RACE STRATEGIES IN TURKEY
The Turkish Grand Prix featured 82 pit stops, a new record for Formula 1 and some spectacular overtaking moves. It was quite a confusing race, which requires some decoding and there are some clear trends emerging which will have a big effect on the way the races happen from now on.
It was also another race which was all about strategy; not just in terms of pit stops on race day, but further...
April 2011
2 posts
RACE STRATEGIES IN SHANGHAI
So much happened in the Chinese Grand Prix, it’s important to take the time to examine exactly how and why things worked out as they did.
The overriding observation is that strategy was the difference between winning and losing on Sunday.
While we have seen some interesting mixtures of strategy in the first two races, the podium finishers in both Melbourne and Sepang all did the same strategy....
RACE STRATEGIES IN SEPANG
Malaysian Grand Prix, Sepang, 10 April 2011, 56 laps As in Melbourne the most important factor in strategic decisions this season is the fact that the new Pirelli tyres degrade much more quickly than the Bridgestones used in recent years and that when they start to go off the performance drops very quickly and severely. So reacting and making quick decisions was the key on Sunday. “A lot of it...
March 2011
1 post
RACE STRATEGIES IN MELBOURNE
Making the right decisions at the right time is crucial to success in F1. The race unfolds in a blur and it is very easy to make a bad decision.
As we saw in Abu Dhabi last year a bad strategy call can cost a world championship and with so many new variables this season, the opening round of the 2011 World Championship, the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne was something of an experiment for...
November 2010
1 post
ABU DHABI GP - KEY DECISIONS
The championship is over, the title is decided in Sebastian Vettel’s favour but the nagging question everyone is wrestling with tonight is, how did Ferrari get its tactics so wrong?
We have seen often this season how strategy can win races, but today we saw it lose a championship. Of course no championship is won or lost on one race, but when a driver has an eight point lead and needs only a...
October 2010
2 posts
JAPANESE GP – KEY DECISIONS
I was fascinated by the way Jenson Button attacked the Japanese Grand Prix, with his strategy of running the hard tyre in qualifying and the first part of the race. It didn’t work for him and he has pretty much dropped out of contention for the title as a result.
Actually “attacked” is the wrong word, because if anything this strategy showed timidity – perhaps even a lack of confidence. For a...
JAPANESE GP – THE TECH REPORT
Suzuka is one of the most technical circuits on the Grand Prix calendar, featuring pretty much every kind of corner that drivers encounter during the year.
The key to a good lap there is the first sector, lasting just over 30 seconds, which requires stable downforce and a strong front end. There is a line through there and when the car gets away from that line, the tenths of a second drop...
September 2010
4 posts
SINGAPORE GP - TECH REPORT
I heard an amazing statistic this week in Singapore from the manager of one of the teams. He said that a Formula 1 car has 4,000 parts on it and during a season they change up to a quarter of them!
The aim of course of all this development is to lower the lap time and Renault boss Eric Boullier told me that since Bahrain the Renault has improved by 1.7 seconds a lap.
Singapore is always a...
ITALIAN GP - TECH REPORT
The Italian Grand Prix at Monza is the fastest event of the season and it is a unique layout as far as F1 is concerned. The average speed of the lap is 250km/h and the top speed is 345km/h. It is essentially a series of long straights linked with chicanes. There are only three corners; the two Lesmo bends and the Parabolica.
Because of the relative amounts of time spent on the straights and...
ITALIAN GP - KEY DECISIONS
Jenson Button maintained a narrow lead over Fernando Alonso for the first 36 laps of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, but lost the race when he pitted first. It was a game changing decision by McLaren.
After the race Button said it was the wrong decision, while McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh said it was the right one. So what is the truth? Did the call to pit Button before Alonso cost him what...
BELGIAN GP - KEY DECISIONS
The Belgian Grand Prix was a race where a lot of decisions needed to be taken, many on the hoof, due to the uncertain weather conditions, which had prevailed throughout the weekend.
It is a fascinating case study in how teams and drivers pick their way through a race, based on the evidence of Friday practice, best guesses about what the other teams will do and lots of instinct.
Big decisions...
August 2010
3 posts
BELGIAN GP – TECH REPORT
Formula 1 started up again at Spa Francorchamps after the summer break, which incorporated a compulsory two week factory shutdown.
Despite the lack of development time during this period, there were nevertheless some fascinating technical stories, including two significant upgrades on front running cars, which had been scheduled for the Belgian Grand Prix weekend.
And there was also a more...
HUNGARIAN GP - KEY DECISIONS
The Hungarian Grand Prix has developed a reputation as a bit of a dull race over the years, although there have been some races where due to strategy reasons, the race has been enthralling.
One that springs to mind was the 1998 classic, when Ferrari’s Ross Brawn switched Michael Schumacher on a three stop strategy, which required him to knock out 20 laps of qualifying level intensity to beat...
HUNGARIAN GP - TECH REPORT
With the Hungarian Grand Prix falling just one week after the German race, there wasn’t much time for the teams to add major updates to the car, however there were some scheduled updates, such as the blown diffuser on the Force India car, which was used only in the practice sessions and some interesting solutions for getting maximum downforce.
And as the weekend’s action revealed, downforce...
July 2010
5 posts
GERMAN GP – KEY DECISIONS
The German Grand Prix at Hockenheim didn’t turn out the way many people expected for many reasons and there were some big decisions taken, which we will be talking about for some time.
The two widely different tyres behaved far better than expected, leaving few tactical options to the teams, while Ferrari were more competitive than many had expected and were the centre of attention. They took...
GERMAN GP - TECH REPORT
The German Grand Prix at Hockenheim will be remembered for the team orders row which blew up after Ferrari ordered Felipe Massa to let Fernando Alonso through, but it was also notable as a confirmation that Ferrari has made great progress with its car after a period in the first third of the season where it fell behind in development.
Unlike Red Bull and McLaren, Ferrari has been obliged to...
BRITSH GP - KEY DECISIONS
The British Grand Prix at Silverstone was the first race on the new circuit layout and we had some great racing. There were some interesting tactical calls, made both before and during the race, which affected the outcome.
As far as race tactics are concerned, the strategy was decided for the top ten teams by the qualifying rules, so having all opted to qualify on the faster soft tyre, they...
BRITSH GP - TECH REPORT
This weekend we have been at Silverstone, a classic track but one that has undergone a facelift for this season with new sections on the second half of the lap.
As usual there were plenty of interesting technical updates on the cars, with teams catching up on the trends of the season and adding either exhaust blown diffusers or drag reducing F Duct rear wings, or in the case of Williams,...
EUROPEAN GP – KEY DECISIONS
The European Grand Prix at Valencia will be remembered for the enormous accident suffered by Mark Webber from which he mercifully walked away. But it was also another race where some vital decisions were taken in the heat of the moment, which shaped the outcome, especially when Webber’s accident triggered a safety car.
There were some important decisions to be made in qualifying, with a...
June 2010
3 posts
EUROPEAN GP – TECH REPORT
Blown diffusers explained
This weekend’s European Grand Prix at Valencia is a significant event in the story of the season from a technical point of view as it was the race where many teams unveiled a device which copies the Red Bull’s “blown diffuser”.
Last year three teams started the season with a double diffuser and, after establishing the legality of it, the rest of the field was forced...
CANADIAN GP – KEY DECISIONS
Posted on | June 16, 2010 | by | 14 Comments
The Canadian Grand Prix was the most exciting race of the season, but also one of the most interesting tactically. There were some important decisions to be made in qualifying which affected the way teams tackled the first part of the race, but there were also big decisions to be taken during the race, reacting to events.
It was clear from Friday...
CANADIAN GP - TECH REPORT
This weekend we are back in Canada after a one year absence. The track is quite different in character from the circuits we have visited so far this season and it is an interesting indication of how the cars perform in a lower downforce configuration.
Montreal is based on a series of chicanes and long straights without a fast corner to its name. As a result the cars run the second lowest level...
April 2010
3 posts
Buttons win shows true talent.
Jenson Button’s victory in the Chinese Grand Prix today, which puts him in the lead in the championship, is one of those results which can change perceptions in Formula 1.
Let’s take a balanced look at this situation. Last year he took a big early lead in the championship in a car with a big technical advantage and then had a patchy second half to the season, holding on for dear life to win the...
A Teenage Race Fan, Meet Conor Daly
So now that you know a little bit about me, it’s probably time I introduce you to the people this blog is really supposed to be about, young, American racecar drivers. These drivers have all proven themselves to be the cream of the crop in American open wheel talent and this blog was created to keep you up to date on them. 1. Conor Daly Age: 18 Hometown: Noblesville, Indiana
Why you’ve...
Cherry's Travel Advise
Average cost of a race ticket? $820. Time it takes to get from your hotel in Aachen to Spa? 1 hour. Watching the cars go from La Source up the gigantic Eau Rogue corner? Priceless.
Monaco, Silverstone and Barcelona… incredible venues in and of themselves but nothing, just nothing beats watching an F1 car is the morning mist at Spa. As far as the result, whoever is on the podium it is almost...
March 2010
5 posts
Alonso and Schumacher renew hostilities
One of the interesting human interest stories to come out of this Melbourne weekend was the renewal of the niggly relationship between Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher.
The pair have history. Alonso is the driver Schumacher identified as his biggest threat as early as 2002, when the Spaniard was test driver for Renault. They battled for the title in 2006 and in Monaco that year, things came...
Cherry's favorites--Barcelona Spain
Head to the glorious Mediterranean Coast with Grand Prix Tours for the Spanish Grand Prix.
Few tracks offer excellent views of the racing action and the Circuit de Catalunya isone of them. The view from any grandstand is phenomenal and with the circuit so close to Barcelona, you spend less time on the bus and more time exploring this fabulous city. There’s just so much to see and so many...
FIA opens up the final 2011 grid slot.
The FIA has today announced that the application process for teams wishing to apply for the 13th and final slot on the F1 grid is now open and will close on 15 April.
This is the slot created by the failure of USF1 to make it this season.
Teams who wish to race in the 2011 and 2012 seasons must submit an expression of interest before then. The FIA will then undertake a process of due...
James Allen: Bahrain Latest
It’s been a busy day at Bahrain, albeit totally lacking in tension.
The drivers and teams all seem very calm ahead of the new season. The new teams are understandably a little more edgy, but generally I am amazed how calm everyone is.
That doesn’t mean that there hasn’t been a lot going on. Alain Prost is to act as a steward this weekend, alongside three of the more traditional steward types,...
It's all about the first few laps...
World Champion Jenson Button spoke to a few of the leading F1 websites today on a phone-in from the McLaren Technology Centre.
He seemed very upbeat after the testing and clearly believes that he has a competitive car. However he said that the last few weeks have proved to him that the first few laps of the race are going to be vital,
“It’s like an endurance race, like Le Mans, ” he said. “The...
February 2010
1 post
James Allen on 2010 F1 rules
Last week the F1 Commission met to discuss the proposals to change some of the sporting regulations to improve the show this season, things which have been discussed for some time, even voted on before.
Many items were on the table including tyre usage, compulsory pit stops, overtaking lanes and extra points for pole and fastest lap.
Many were rejected, but the revision to the points system was...
James Allen: Sauber & Renault revealed.
Today in Valencia, the BMW Sauber and Renault teams revealed their new cars ahead of the first day of testing tomorrow.
BMW Sauber went first in the morning, Peter Sauber showing off the first car since acquiring the team back from BMW and showing off his two new drivers, Kamui Kobayashi and Pedro de la Rosa. The team has yet to be apply for a name change and is staying “BMW Sauber” for the...
January 2010
7 posts
Michael Schumacher's Tagebuch-Blog
Well, here we are. Quite honestly and obviously I never thought that this situation of returning to Formula 1 would happen for me. But as Sean Connery said in the famous James Bond movie, Never Say You Only Live Twice.
It was not a difficult decision to be making when the big guy got on the phone and said “Michael, I’ve got a seat for you in 2010.” I knew straight away that...
Devin Altieri: A Teenage Race Fan
Teenagers. What do you think of when you think of teenagers? My guess is that you think of valley girls saying “Like” and “Oh my god”, much like the movie Clueless. I don’t exactly fit that stereotype. My name is Devin Altieri and I am a teenage race fan. This blog will chronicle my experiences as a race fan, starting with this last month. What did I do last month you ask? Supercross! Supercross...
James Allen: Rosberg “I’ve nothing to lose”
Nico Rosberg has come out strongly in a fantastic interview today by my colleague Frederic Ferret in L’Equipe sports newspaper in France,
claiming that he is not afraid of going up against a driver he considers the “best driver ever”.
The 24 year old faces a very different season from the one he anticipated when he signed for Brawn last summer. Instead of Jenson Button alongside him, he has the...
Peter Windsor's World from Team USF1
It’s great to be back in the USA!
We’re all complaining a little about everything closing down for the New Year but – believe me – America is currently much more industrious than the UK. Here, at our home base, we were quiet on Christmas Day (naturally) and then again today. The UK – and most of Europe – basically shut down on December 18 and will not stagger back to life until...