7 replies to this topic

[Tenmantaylor]

http://www.formula1....rap/776/24.html

Heard the ITV guys say McLarens were slow in a straight line and was surprised so checked the speed trap figures from qual.

1 15 Mark Webber 13:46:35 334.5

2 14 David Coulthard 13:37:51 331.8

3 4 Heikki Kovalainen 13:47:51 331.3

4 6 Kimi Räikkönen 13:36:36 331.0

5 19 Scott Speed 13:15:48 328.5

6 12 Jarno Trulli 13:15:36 327.9

7 11 Ralf Schumacher 13:06:12 327.6

8 8 Rubens Barrichello 13:37:39 327.6

9 3 Giancarlo Fisichella 13:47:51 327.6

10 16 Nico Rosberg 13:36:47 326.8

11 5 Felipe Massa 13:50:09 326.7

12 9 Nick Heidfeld 13:47:42 326.4

13 20 Adrian Sutil 13:14:36 323.9

14 17 Alexander Wurz 13:15:40 323.9

15 18 Vitantonio Liuzzi 13:14:12 323.2

16 21 Christijan Albers 13:14:17 322.2

17 10 Sebastian Vettel 13:36:45 321.8

18 7 Jenson Button 13:14:52 321.6

19 2 Lewis Hamilton 13:27:21 321.5

20 1 Fernando Alonso 13:50:48 320.9

21 22 Takuma Sato 13:15:46 318.4

22 23 Anthony Davidson 13:33:31 312.2

Quite amazing to see the Mcs only ahead of SA. They obviously went for laptimes and werent worried about being overtaken in the race. And surely the Mercedes isnt down on power by much on anyone if at all? Just high DF.

Having a high top speed didnt help Webber much on, did anyone spot him pass anyone on the straight? Trulli held him up well enough who was also quick on the straight.

Anthony davidson passed button after being slowest on the straight so what is that saying about speed trap figures? (or is that just crap honda braking ability with jensons crap defending ability)

On the whole it seems top speed, even at indy where full throttle is over 20 seconds on the straight seems not to be much of an advantage in race strategy.

Or did i miss lots of passes?

[metz]

I'm with you.
Given that nobody can pass in the twisty bits and the end of the long straight is the best chance, why not set up for more top speed?
With rev limiters as the equalizer, why not run with less downfource and a higher top gear?
Would be slow in the corners but so what if nobody can pass. Lap times would be compromized.
If they can stay with a competitor through the infield, they can take them on the straight.
The down side of course is that they need to be close before the straight.

Maybe I need some lessons from Brawn..

[Blythy]

there's more time to be made up in the twisty bits than on the straight. Webber may have top speed, but there's nothing about how long it took to reach that speed and how long he was at that speed, The mclarens could have been at their top speed sooner than webber at his, depending on the gearing - i.e. therefore it's possible the mercs could be quicker than you expect from a-b. doubt it a bit, but top speed isn't everything. There's also limits of the top speed - was mclaren's limited by downforce, or by gearing like wurz.

If it's by downforce, then you can slipstream and get lots of advantages but if it's by gearing, you're gonna have to do it someplace else.

and if it's by downforce, the second you get out of that slipstream, you're gonna start slowing down, even if you have full throttle.

[MrAerodynamicist]

McLaren probably felt they had enough car advance that they could go for the optimum downforce level for the best lap times, walk away from everybody else at the front, and not have to worry about having an inability to pass. The other ten teams knew they'd have cars in front of them, so place more of a premium on straightline speed.

[J2NH]

You used to see this with the old qualifying, non-park ferme system.
Teams would go for lap time in qualifying and then take down force off of for the race. Theory was no one could pass on the twisty parts and if you had the top end, less downforce, no one could jump you on the straights. Looks like the Macs aren't concerned about it and are playing for max lap times.

[rjsa]

Originally posted by metz
I'm with you.
Given that nobody can pass in the twisty bits and the end of the long straight is the best chance, why not set up for more top speed?
With rev limiters as the equalizer, why not run with less downfource and a higher top gear?
Would be slow in the corners but so what if nobody can pass. Lap times would be compromized.
If they can stay with a competitor through the infield, they can take them on the straight.
The down side of course is that they need to be close before the straight.

Maybe I need some lessons from Brawn..

I was following with attention the FM/KR thing towards the end of the race, and KR was as faster as 0.5s in S3 sometimes. But all that was wasted in S1/S2 - he just couldn't keep close to FM, who was faster 8 out of 10 times, or even at least. So that trick didn't work at all between the two reds.

[Limits]

Problem with low downforce is that T12 is where you need to be close if you want to pass, and with low downforce and current aero that is impossible. It is almost flat out and any loss of downforce will make huge difference. Maybe it even is flat out in free air and high downforce, but it is not for a trailing car in dirty air. Seems like Ferrari is not doing their homework.

http://www.formula1....uitmap/776.html

[Juan Kerr]

Originally posted by metz
I'm with you.
Given that nobody can pass in the twisty bits and the end of the long straight is the best chance, why not set up for more top speed?
With rev limiters as the equalizer, why not run with less downfource and a higher top gear?
Would be slow in the corners but so what if nobody can pass. Lap times would be compromized.
If they can stay with a competitor through the infield, they can take them on the straight.
The down side of course is that they need to be close before the straight.

Maybe I need some lessons from Brawn..

There is so much more time to gain on the slow corners compared to on the straights.