In the round-up: FIA race director Charlie Whiting says the FIA will correct a ‘loophole’ in the regulations which Sebastian Vettel drew attention to following the Spanish Grand Prix, which could allow drivers to gain up to 0.15 seconds per lap during Virtual Safety Car conditions.
What they say
It’s the calculation that the system does when it looks at the speed of the car every 50 metres, it’s based on the distance from the timing line. So if you can shorten that you can gain tiny fractions. The way we calculate that, our software guys [say] you can possibly gain about 150 milliseconds [per lap]. But in Formula 1 that’s worth having. But that’s the extent of it as far as it was explained to me by our software people. We can rectify it to make it a bit more bulletproof.
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
It was a dream, it will become true next week and I can’t wait!
C’était un rêve, ça va devenir réalité le week end prochain et j’ai hâte! #VivelaFrance #GPFrance pic.twitter.com/6OBQYuNlYe— Esteban Ocon (@OconEsteban) June 14, 2018
Prototypes that resemble road cars, that should give manufacturers the best incentive possible to get back into @FIAWEC bravo everyone! Not sure what it means for LMP2 but there needs to be a place to make a profession out of prototype racing, and this is what it looks like! https://t.co/v2G1ierBe0
— Matt Howson (@MHowsonRacing) June 15, 2018
ACO/WEC confirm planned 2020 top class regs:
– Hypercars retaining hybrid technology
– Single KERS system that must be available to customers
– 3m20s lap time target at Le Mans
– 1/4 of recent LMP1 budgets targeted#LeMans24— Luke Smith (@LukeSmithF1) June 15, 2018
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
More motor racing links of interest:
McLaren to make decision on Le Mans return by end of year (Crash)
McLaren is currently evaluating a full-time IndyCar programme for 2019, with Brown revealing last week the odds were 'looking favourable', but has also been part of discussions regarding the future WEC top class regulations that will come into force from 2020, replacing LMP1.
Tech Focus: the Ferrari change that helped put Vettel back on top (F1.com)
Vettel did a quick back-to-back comparison of the old arrangement and the new in first practice on Friday and discarded the old one after only three laps, indicating that the update was working much as Ferrari had intended.
WEC 2020-2024: revolutionary regulations (FIA)
Being the top class, these new prototypes must be technologically powerful and compelling in design and will therefore remain hybrid, with a KERS system in front and 4WD to ensure energy efficiency. This technology will become more and more popular as the KERS system developed by some constructors will have to be used on production cars at a pre-defined price.
Force India say they have come through cash squeeze (Reuters)
It’s no secret we asked for a bit of money up front (from F1 owners Liberty Media) so that gets us through the winter.
'Like driving at 500km/h' Button braced for Le Mans 'shock (Associated Press)
At night, you feel you are going at 500km/h. The blue lights, they too are a shock. You have to give your eyes and your brain time to get used to it.
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Comment of the day
Definitely room to grow here for the service, but very glad they’re moving in the right direction. I’ve found live stream quality to be very dependent on the performance of my local system. I was having trouble on my laptop over WiFi so switched to my gaming desktop over cat5 and it was nearly flawless running race feed, two onboards and live timing at once. Just my anecdotal two cents.
Agreed that the disparity between the Sky commentators and our video feed is sometimes frustrating. I’m hoping a dedicated commentary team is on the roadmap in the future. Maybe snatch up that NBC team!
Finally, an observation about the term “over-the-top”. People love throwing this term around when describing internet-based services, but it’s quickly becoming less relevant to reality. Over the top of what, exactly? I don’t have a cable TV subscription. I get the feeling that broadcasters label stuff OTT with the hint that they intend to treat it as a “second class” service, or a favor they’re doing for customers. They’ve got to get out of that mindset quickly as this will soon be the primary viewing method for the demographic that they covet.
James
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nase
16th June 2018, 0:17
Good to hear they will address the VSC issue. I remember the narrative being “He’s just grumpy after losing a position to Verstappen under the VSC”, but it seems he was actually right.
juan fanger (@juan-fanger)
16th June 2018, 2:18
This change may also have a safety aspect. From what I could understand (feel free to correct), the drivers gained if they straightlined from apex-to-apex but lost if they weaved to keep their tyres up to temperature at the slower speeds and so were encouraged by the VSC rules to use heavy accelerate and brake cycles to manage temperatures, leading to incidents like Verstappen and Stroll at Spain.
Anon
16th June 2018, 11:38
I don’t think this is quite accurate, my understanding is that for any given timing line, one end of it will be closer to the next (for example, the end on the apex). So, they can weave, accelerate, brake, reverse, do donuts or anything they like, as long as they begin the 50m sector at the correct end, then they’ve gained that advantage.
Though clearly, you’re right that it could affect safety, if every driver is trying to hit one extreme of each timing line, then braking/accelerating maneuvers are more likely to cause run-ins – the effective width of the track is reduced to the width of a car every 50m, for maximum gains.
ColdFly (@)
16th June 2018, 9:32
That’s BeEs nase.
The potential 0.15s is the same for everybody.
And there is hardly an ‘unusual line’ next to the pit lane (you gain on the curvy bits).
Vettel lost out due to a poor pit stop!
Patrickl (@patrickl)
16th June 2018, 9:39
Yes, typical Vettel, when he can exploit a loophole he’s fine, but when he feels on the receiving end he’s “grumpy” (or when he gets penalized for abusing a “loophole”)
Still, 150ms difference over a full lap hardly loses you a position. Which they wouldn’t even be able to attain in normal conditions.
nase
16th June 2018, 15:32
@coldfly
What on earth is ‘BeEs’ supposed to mean? Bovine excrement?
@patrickl
Okay, guys. What on earth are you reading into my comment?
Vettel’s lost position had absolutely nothing to do with the point he raised about the VSC. That’s precisely my point, for crying out loud!
For reference, see these two comments from back when it was a fresh talking point: 1 & 2.
What I’m getting at is a verbal foul play in the original article that strings two unrelated facts together to create the heavy implication that the true reason for Vettel’s complaint is the place he lost to Verstappen. When in fact these two things have obviously nothing to do with each other.
Patrickl (@patrickl)
17th June 2018, 19:38
Well the verbal foul play was just. The only reason he was complaining was because he lost the place.
When he made use of that same loophole before he didn’t care to complain.
nase
17th June 2018, 22:38
@patrickl
But that’s nonsense. I’ve gone through all of this before, that’s why I linked my old comments. Or take Vettel’s own comments from the article that started the discussion:
“Everybody’s aware”, “it forces us”, “Everybody’s doing it”
=> He does it, everybody does it, it’s a zero-sum game. Therefore, there is no possible connection with him losing a place.
Also, see what he himself had to say about losing that position:
I.e.:
The VSC issue Vettel’s lost position
Two entirely separate issues.
Ah, come on. You’re conflating things that don’t have any common denominator, except the VSC.
The “loophole” you’re probably referring to was his pit stop in Australia, where he minimised his time by speeding up between the first safety car line and the pit entry, narrowly coming out ahead of Hamilton after his pit stop.
The thing is: That’s a different loophole altogether, and one that has been exploited by every driver in the history of the VSC ever. Including Hamilton. It’s the standard procedure, and another loophole that Whiting et al. are looking at:
Again, “everyone knows that, it’s not new”. Again from that very same article. I don’t post these links for the hell of it, I post them because I expect them to be read.
Mercedes were well aware of that loophole, which, again makes this a zero-sum game. The one thing they weren’t aware of was their faulty calculation of the VSC pit stop window. But that’s their problem.
Am I finally getting my point through?
Calum
16th June 2018, 0:34
I wonder what Mclaren will end up doing. Seeing them trundling round in F1 in no-mans land is pretty grim viewing.
If Mclaren decide to go to Indy Cars maybe they can try to match Mercedes-Benz and complete a triple crown of their own!
Mercedes-Benz
1915 – First win at Indy 500
1935 – First win at Monaco GP
1952 – First win at Le Mans 24hr
Mclaren
1984 – First win at Monaco GP
1995 – First win at Le Mans 24hr
???? – Indy 500
KeeWee
16th June 2018, 20:24
1972 Mark Donohue/McLaren – Penske Racing Ent
1974 & 1976 Johnny Rutherford/McLaren – Bruce McLaren Motor Racing
Alex
16th June 2018, 21:17
You know at Indy it is always a Dallara that wins don’t you?
“Dallara Automobili is an Italian chassis manufacturer for various motor racing series, being most notable for its near-monopoly in Formula Three since 1993. Dallara also produces the chassis used by the IndyCar Series, Indy Lights, FIA Formula 2 Championship, World Series by Renault, GP3 Series, Super Formula, Formula E and ADAC Formel Masters and is one of the manufacturers in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series.”
Jere (@jerejj)
16th June 2018, 7:39
A lap time target of 3m20s around Le Mans (or Circuit de la Sarthe). Why specifically 3:20?
– Regarding the VSC-topic: I’m looking forward to seeing how well they are in the end going to be able to block this ‘loophole’ presumably worth 0.15 seconds.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
16th June 2018, 8:06
Just a W.A.G. – maybe because it’s a nice round number of 200 seconds?
Sush meerkat
16th June 2018, 9:01
The target time of 3minutes and 20 seconds was calculated using the scientifically accurate method of “which arbitrary number should we tell racing teams and press?”
It’s the same method that formula 1 used when stating cars should be 5 seconds faster, a memo Williams never received
ColdFly (@)
16th June 2018, 9:38
Ouch.
Still need to find the first spectator without a stopwatch who noticed the 5s faster.
Even the 6 odd minutes we won by finishing early have been consumed by extra 10m pre race ad breaks.
anon
16th June 2018, 9:04
@jerejj, part of it is down to safety – there are sections of the track where the ACO is limited on the changes it can make, and there have been serious or even fatal accidents in recent years (such as the GT driver Allan Simonsen in 2013 when he crashed at Terte Rouge), leading to the ACO wanting to reduce cornering speeds.
It’s also trying to avoid too much of a performance gap between the LMP1 cars and the rest of the field, which has sometimes resulted in accidents when the LMP1 cars were lapping traffic.
toiago (@toiago)
16th June 2018, 11:26
It’s more or less what the cars take to lap the circuit now, so that the performance of the cars isn’t affected that much by the rules, when all is said and done. That’s my take on it anyway. And I guess it’s easier to use 3:20 for reference as a 3:18:684.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
16th June 2018, 18:53
There’s always been a specified target, in order to manage risk. With the newer barriers starting to appear, the target time can now be dropped by 10 seconds from the 3:30 that was the official longstanding target.
ColdFly (@)
16th June 2018, 9:42
My vote goes to ‘Le Mans Supercar’