Formula 1 - 2014 Season

[UniversalTruth]

Ferrari will win in Monaco.

Anyways, you see that your link proves the point, S1 and S2 with negligible differences while in S3 it is much bigger than that.

 

[DJ12]

A tenth is not a negligible difference in f1.

Your link seems to suggest they are only good on the straights which is clearly bullshit as proven by trawling through the qualifying results.

Don't forget they also have a massive gap to cars using the very same engine.

 

[Wynix]

I agree with DJ, though i think Ferrari is in with a chance to break their winning streak; Maybe even Ricciardo if his team-mate doesn't cockblock him.

 

[Dave Baumann]

With regards to previous comments about 2014 car performances / pace Joe Saward points this out:

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2014/04/24/a-press-release-that-someone-should-have-put-out/

What was most significant, if you ask me, was that if some idiot with the chequered flag had not waved it a lap too early, Lewis Hamilton’s race time over 56 laps in Shanghai would have been 1h36m52.810s. Compare that to last year and the year before and you will see that the race took about 26 seconds longer than it did in 2013 and 2012. Not even half a minute. In percentage terms, therefore, there was a loss of less than half a percent in terms of performance. In contrast, this result was achieved using around 33 percent less fuel.

Checking on Forix there appears to have been no Safety Cars over the past two years either. Had Mercedes been challenged then that delta would have been further reduced or even gone. On many tracks these cars are likely to be faster then their predecessors before the end of the season (put them on Monza right now and they are probably already faster!).

 

[Lightman]

With regards to previous comments about 2014 car performances / pace Joe Saward points this out:

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2014/04/24/a-press-release-that-someone-should-have-put-out/



Checking on Forix there appears to have been no Safety Cars over the past two years either. Had Mercedes been challenged then that delta would have been further reduced or even gone. On many tracks these cars are likely to be faster then their predecessors before the end of the season (put them on Monza right now and they are probably already faster!).

This is a good point and many technical team members were voicing similar opinions during pre-season testing. These new power units in theory can give more total power per lap than older V8+KERS and much more than bare V8 from prior seasons. With time teams will learn how to safely reduce car weights and aerodynamic and power unit upgrades will gain them another second or two per lap for most of the tracks. Even Mercedes car still can go quite a bit faster .

This is a season where we witness probably the most rapid car development curve ever seen in F1. Barcelona should be another big step for most of the teams and can potentially shake current pecking order quite a bit. I don't think Mercedes is in danger, but everyone behind them will be very nervous .

 

[-tkf-]

With regards to previous comments about 2014 car performances / pace Joe Saward points this out:

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2014/04/24/a-press-release-that-someone-should-have-put-out/

Checking on Forix there appears to have been no Safety Cars over the past two years either. Had Mercedes been challenged then that delta would have been further reduced or even gone. On many tracks these cars are likely to be faster then their predecessors before the end of the season (put them on Monza right now and they are probably already faster!).

Wasn't this one of the circuits that plays into the new cars, fast in a straight line..

 

[-tkf-]

Wasn't this one of the circuits that plays into the new cars, fast in a straight line..

2013 fastest lap 1:36.808
2014 fastest (lol) 1:40.402

 

[Dave Baumann]

Wasn't this one of the circuits that plays into the new cars, fast in a straight line..

As I mentioned:

On many tracks these cars are likely to be faster then their predecessors before the end of the season (put them on Monza right now and they are probably already faster!).

2013 fastest lap 1:36.808
2014 fastest (lol) 1’40.402

And the net effect between the prior years rules / operation is very little in terms of overall race pace.

 

[Dave Baumann]

With time teams will learn how to safely reduce car weights and aerodynamic and power unit upgrades will gain them another second or two per lap for most of the tracks.

Sadly the minimum regulated weight is significantly higher than it was in prior seasons, to help level the playing field a little. While I know a few of the smaller teams are still above it, I don't believe the top teams are and they already likely to be using ballast to meet the limit.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

And the net effect between the prior years rules / operation is very little in terms of overall race pace.

I wonder how that looks if tire differences are taken out. Imo fastest lap is more important than "overall race pace" when performance of the cars is being discussed. It seems they can use the tire a bit more this season, but I'm not sure on that.

 

[Dave Baumann]

I wonder how that looks if tire differences are taken out. Imo fastest lap is more important than "overall race pace" when performance of the cars is being discussed. It seems they can use the tire a bit more this season, but I'm not sure on that.

Not sure you can look at it in isolation, when considering a set of rules with various differences. For instance, as mentioned the cars are significantly heavier this year, which will have some effect on the maximum performance, but with only 2/3 of the fuel the maximum weight delta between the start of the race and the end of the race is lower and in 2013. As I mentioned before, the prior rules had a larger gap between their slowest race pace and their maximum race pace (by virtue of fuel usage and tire characteristics) while these new rules are operating in a narrower band between slowest and fastest pace.

The tires for 2014 are more durable, but that tends to mean giving up a little on grip / speed as well. Last years tires would probably yield a slightly higher peak pace but then they'd be shot in no time by virtue of the torque demands and increased weight.

 

[-tkf-]

As I mentioned:

And the net effect between the prior years rules / operation is very little in terms of overall race pace.

The total race time is more likely to be related to tires than anything else, remember how fast they went away during last season, it was silly.

And 3+ seconds is a lot, especially on a track that should be favorable to the new cars straight line speed.

 

[-tkf-]

Not sure you can look at it in isolation, when considering a set of rules with various differences. For instance, as mentioned the cars are significantly heavier this year, which will have some effect on the maximum performance, but with only 2/3 of the fuel the maximum weight delta between the start of the race and the end of the race is lower and in 2013. As I mentioned before, the prior rules had a larger gap between their slowest race pace and their maximum race pace (by virtue of fuel usage and tire characteristics) while these new rules are operating in a narrower band between slowest and fastest pace.

The tires for 2014 are more durable, but that tends to mean giving up a little on grip / speed as well. Last years tires would probably yield a slightly higher peak pace but then they'd be shot in no time by virtue of the torque demands and increased weight.

But the fastest laps are usually done with little weight and semi new tires, 3.6! seconds pr lap is a giant difference. And last year saw some pretty crappy tires. And just because they wear our faster doesn't mean the actually are that much faster.

 

[Wynix]

I wish they would start beating the 2004 times, it's been a decade already...

Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 56Laps Time:1Hr29Min12Sec

Fastest Lap: Michael Schumacher - 1.32.238

 

[Lightman]

Sadly the minimum regulated weight is significantly higher than it was in prior seasons, to help level the playing field a little. While I know a few of the smaller teams are still above it, I don't believe the top teams are and they already likely to be using ballast to meet the limit.

Sorry I didn't explain myself fully. What I meant with reducing weight of cars was allowing teams to play with ballast to gain lap time. Minimum weight is fixed, but there is still time to be gained by reducing car weight as moving ballast on the car is quite beneficial on most tracks.

 

[Kaotik]

I wish they would start beating the 2004 times, it's been a decade already...

Many of the records won't ever be broken, the tracks aren't even identical in many cases and FIA makes all the rule changes to make sure the cars won't become faster (and thus, less safe) than they are now

 

[Wynix]

Many of the records won't ever be broken, the tracks aren't even identical in many cases and FIA makes all the rule changes to make sure the cars won't become faster (and thus, less safe) than they are now

They don't need to increase straight-line speed, just increase aerodynamics and better tires.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

They don't need to increase straight-line speed, just increase aerodynamics and better tires.

But that's just it, the rules are constantly changed to insure that racing speed can never exceed what it was a decade or more ago. It is designed to keep things under a certain speed such that conditions don't become "too dangerous."

Hence you see efforts to reduce downforce (minimum height the bottom of the car must maintain with regards to the ground for example). Tires. Engine specs. Fuel. Fuel flow. Etc.

All designed to limit the speed of the cars (whether in a straight line or when going around corners) so that if something goes wrong, it hopefully won't result in something catastrophic.

Regards,
SB

 

[entity279]

Hopefully there will be a new formula for self-driven cars soon

 

[UniversalTruth]

Actually I'm somehow afraid that reduction in downforce increases the risk of catastrophic consequences because the cars are less stable as a given.