F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 252 We should leverage our strengths

Williams is discussing how to deal with Mercedes, while Mercedes is discussing Wu Shi's situation.

Compared to Wei team, which realized early on that Wu Shi's driving method was different from that of normal drivers and collected enough data.

Mercedes-Benz doesn't have access to the most detailed data; they can only analyze it based on publicly available telemetry data.

Wu Shi's appearance on a low-oil, new yellow tire was stunning.

Mercedes' strategy team and data analysts analyzed the data again and again, exploring various data points repeatedly.

They discovered that Wu Shi was very willing to brake, especially late at night.

"Is it because their brake balancing and brake migration are better than ours?" an engineer asked.

“Wu Shi’s braking balance tends to be biased towards the rear, except at the end of the straight,” Hamilton said.

As a direct competitor, Hamilton, although not a hard-working driver, still spent a lot of time studying Wu Shi's car.

Unfortunately, Williams' car is different from other teams; it still uses the old steering wheel, and the small screen is not on the steering wheel, so it is difficult to see how much Wu Shi has adjusted from the T-frame perspective.

“I can understand the brake balance. He may be more inclined to need more steering, so the braking torque tends to be distributed to the rear wheels more than yours.”

"This is very common among drivers who prefer agile steering."

"But there are some things I don't understand about brake shifting, so I'd like the two drivers to give their opinions in the most direct way."

Paddy Lowe said that as Mercedes’ executive technical director, he has recently needed to frequently discuss issues related to Williams with everyone.

Brake balance is a frequently discussed topic in F1, but it is less frequently discussed than actions such as steering, throttle, braking, and gear shifting.

On average, most riders need to make about 10 adjustments per lap.

For cars like Mercedes, you can often see a number in the 50s or 60s on the screen in the middle of their steering wheel when viewed from the T-frame.

This is the situation of brake balance.

Generally, the screen displays the braking ratio of the front wheels.

For example, if the braking ratio of the front wheels is 55, then it can be naturally deduced that the braking ratio of the rear wheels is 45.

As we all know, when braking, the center of gravity of a vehicle shifts forward, so the front wheels brake better than the rear wheels, which is determined by physical characteristics.

Therefore, the specifications of the front brake components in F1 are also higher than those of the rear brake components.

However, when the front wheels bear a greater braking torque, it will lead to a loss of lateral grip, making it difficult to turn.

This can lead to a series of problems such as understeer and insufficient steering.

Therefore, drivers who prefer responsive steering tend to reduce the braking load on the front wheels.

In this way, they can quickly find the steering feel of the front wheels after heavy braking.

However, the required braking balance in a curve is not constant.

When braking hard in the braking zone, a very large braking force is required.

At this point, the front wheels bear more braking torque, which can effectively reduce the vehicle speed and achieve better braking performance.

When the speed is reduced enough to enter the corner, the drivers need to use tracking brakes.

Therefore, the grip of the front wheels cannot be used only for braking, but also needs to be allocated to the lateral direction to complete steering.

Correspondingly, at this point, the brake balance needs to be adjusted back towards the rear wheels.

However, in such an emergency, no driver can adjust the brake balance in real time.

Furthermore, F1 does not have an ABS system, so it cannot actively control the braking balance ratio and braking force.

Therefore, in order to achieve better braking performance, there is a braking system adjustment function on the F1 steering wheel called brake shift.

In short, this function allows engineers to pre-enter multiple sets of data before the race, and then automatically adjust the braking balance during the braking process.

For example, when entering a corner, the required braking balance is 56% for the front wheels.

When the driver completes heavy braking and begins to follow the track into the corner.

The brake shift system will then come into play.

According to the preset data, they began to change the brake balance, gradually decreasing from 56% to 54%.

This maximizes front wheel grip while ensuring braking performance.

The braking performance of Wu Shi's Williams was far superior to that of Massa's.

Is this the result of Wu Shi's personal tuning preferences, or is there another explanation?

Hamilton continued, "The brake migration curve data was obtained jointly by us and the engineers during testing."

“I think I’ve found a good point, but we should know that a vehicle always needs different adaptation data under different circumstances.”

"Even on Fridays and Saturdays, we can predict in advance the braking shift data that the vehicle will need during each lap, but that only applies when we are cruising."

"If a collision occurs, we usually can't get the brake shift function to work at its best."

"That's not the point, that's not the point I wanted to make!"

Hamilton emphasized it again before continuing:
"The key point is that Wu Shi would often adjust the parameters he needed while driving on curves."

"How was he able to determine that the parameter was the most suitable for the route he was currently taking?"

"Moreover, we can observe that Wu Shi seems to be in the optimal range of grip strength during both offense and defense."

"Did they pre-set the braking and migration parameters for each turn, both offensive and defensive?"

"I think that's impossible. On the track, drivers will find their own grip and will definitely face different situations."

"The only thing I think is that Wu Shi's steering wheel has a device that can quickly adjust the brake balance, and Wu Shi can make adjustments at any time in complex situations."

"This isn't a problem with the car, it's a problem with the people."

Hamilton shared his thoughts.

In fact, this is one of the reasons why people cannot accurately predict Wu Shi's lap time at present.

Wu Shi displayed many qualities that surpassed everyone's understanding.

Toto listened without offering any opinion, but instead looked at Rosberg, wondering what the driver would say.

Rosberg cleared his throat, sat up, and looked at the crowd:

"I share Lewis's view that what surprised me most was not his cruising ability."

"It was his driving skills that pushed the limits of the race car during offensive and defensive operations."

"None of us could have achieved his results if we were driving the FW37."

As he said this, he glanced at Hamilton.

Hamilton touched his nose and did not refute the statement.

Rosberg continued:

“We need to raise our assessment of Wu Shi and consider him on an equal footing every time we make a decision.”

"If we only analyze the technical details of their vehicles, I think their technology is not better than ours."

Clearly, in Rosberg's view, Williams' current achievements are not due to their research and development being superior to Mercedes', but rather to Wu Shi's personal abilities that brought Williams to this level.

Several engineers around the rectangular conference table nodded in agreement with Rosberg's statement.

“I understand, we should play to our strengths.” Paddy Lowe clapped his hands.

Before the Italia Grand Prix, Williams received some very, very bad news!

Mercedes-Benz will use the remaining 7 tokens.

The tokens are the technical currency used in F1 to balance power unit development, with each team starting the season with 32 tokens.

Mercedes has confirmed that it will bring powertrain upgrades to the Monza circuit.

Andy Cowell, head of its engine division, revealed that three of the tokens were used for improvements to the internal combustion engine.

As for what the other four are for, outsiders have no idea.

After Mercedes updates its engine, it will first be used in its own team.

Whether it's Lotus, Indian Power, or Williams, they will all continue to use the old version.

This was a bolt from the blue.

The car's aerodynamics were already inferior to Mercedes', and then Mercedes optimized their engines, making it unusable at this race.

Regardless of the circumstances, this casts a shadow over the Italie Grand Prix.

Of course, this isn't the only bad news.

According to some journalists, Ferrari will also spend three tokens to research the combustion system of its V6 turbocharger.

Ferrari has often been outpaced by Mercedes this season.

However, it's generally agreed that its racing performance ranks second in the paddock.

The reason why it is only a basic consensus is because of the existence of Wu Shi.

People are unsure whether Williams' true performance is as Wu Shi portrayed or as Masachusetts portrayed.

The other two engine suppliers, Honda and Renault, have 4 tokens left and are preparing for the next major overhaul.

Honda soon announced their performance improvements, saying that they could provide faster speeds on the long straights of Monza.

How much faster exactly? They say it's 30 kilometers per hour faster than its competitors.

This is more in line with the art of language.
Opponent? Which opponent? Mano or Mercedes?

However, they also stated that they are already studying the powertrain layout for 2016.

This sounds like they've already given up on the 2015 season and are already thinking about the 2016 season.

McLaren's sporting director, Eric Burrell, was certainly unhappy with this statement.

Of course, he didn't say anything publicly, only stating that the only thing that interested him during his trip to Italia was the local cuisine.

McLaren's trust in Honda engines is on the verge of collapse, which has made the cooperation between the two parties increasingly tense.

McLaren team principal Ron Dennis is very aggressive, as McLaren has been without a major sponsor for two years and is currently facing a very serious financial crisis.

He doesn't have that much patience.

Shortly afterward, the Daily Mail revealed that McLaren's chairman had sent a letter to Tokyo demanding that they replace Yasuhisa Arai, the head of Honda's engine division.

It can be said that by the middle and later stages of the season, most teams had already seen their results for the season.

When all hope was lost, they naturally began to address their internal problems.

Lotus's economic crisis worsened, and they left Spa very late.

They were stopped by the police, reportedly because a group of creditors were demanding payment from them.

Another group of creditors has filed a complaint in the London High Court.

In fact, Lotus was on the verge of bankruptcy. Wu Shi even saw them borrowing tire blankets from the team next door during the race.

Vettel's tire blowout continues to cause controversy, as he launches a fierce attack on Pirelli in the media.

Pirelli countered that Vettel's failure was due to excessive wear and tear on the tires.

Pirelli also hopes to open up more practice sessions to develop tires and calls on drivers to provide feedback.

They even stated that if they were not supported, they would completely leave Formula One by the end of 2016, allowing Michelin to return to F1.

F1 principal Bernie Ecclestone reacted strongly, the gray-haired man being 100% unwilling to have Michelin join F1.

Besides these stressful things, some pleasant things also happened in the paddock.

For example, both Vettel and Rosberg welcomed new family members.

Wu Shi also congratulated the two drivers.

Speaking of Rosberg's daughter, Wu Shi also recalled some interesting anecdotes that happened later.

It's just that Rosberg's daughter is a fan of Hamilton, and Hamilton sends her gifts every year.

Rosberg acknowledged the matter in an interview, but still maintained that he had some issues with Hamilton.

Their relationship is truly peculiar and complex!
When the first race week of September arrived, all the teams were extremely busy.

The convoy of trucks drove into Monza one by one.

Before the start of the race, Red Bull confirmed that both drivers would be fitted with new power units.

This resulted in Kvyat being penalized 30 places and Ricardo being penalized 50 places.

It's fair to say that the combined penalty of the two McLaren drivers, which resulted in a 105-place drop, is worse than the penalty imposed on them.

McLaren changed their engine again at this race, and Button and Alonso were penalized 5 and 10 times respectively.
In a pre-match interview, the reporter also asked Wu Shi how he viewed the situation.

Wu Shi said with some difficulty, "In 2007, I saw McLaren competing for the drivers' and team championships. When I arrived at the paddock, I didn't expect them to be having such a tough time."

Of course, if we're really talking about McLaren in 2007, we have to go back to the "spygate" scandal.

Hmm, that's a bit too sensitive.

In addition, Sainz was also penalized with the replacement of power components, resulting in a 35-place demotion.

This season, the engines used were mostly Honda and Renault, and the normal number of replacements was already used up at the beginning of the season.

So in the second half of the season, if the power system malfunctions, they will basically have to replace the parts and then accept the penalty.

The Monza circuit looks simple, but it's actually not difficult.

The less difficult tracks always test the driver's ability to handle details more.

Since the high-speed characteristics of the track are still within Williams' comfort zone, the team shouldn't have much trouble with the setup.

The only thing to consider is what to do once the main competition begins.

In the last game, Wu Shi demonstrated Williams' performance advantage under light fuel load, so perhaps the strategy needs to focus more on how to prepare for the second half of the game.

However, the specific arrangements will depend on the outcome of the practice matches.

(End of this chapter)