What's Really Behind An F1 Win

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Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso became the first man this season to win three Grands Prixafter another assured drive saw him take victory at the German Grand Prix yesterday.Although Jenson Button caught Alonso fairly quickly after passing SebastianVettel’s Red Bull in the second series of pit stops, he was unable to close thegap significantly to mount a challenge to pass. Indeed, it was Button who was passedhimself by Vettel on the penultimate lap, albeit illegally as he gained an unfairadvantage in going off the track to complete the maneuver and found himself demoted tofifth after receiving a 20-second penalty.The race win means Alonso now has asignificant 34-point lead in the championship. His victory was set up by a great start offthe line, out-dragging Sebastian Vettel into the first corner and maintaining hisadvantage from pole position. He was not the only driver to benefit from a good getawayoff the lights. Sergio Perez came from 17th on the grid to take sixth, and teammate KamuiKobayashi was fifth from 12th on the grid. Nico Rosberg came from 21st to finish 10th.Because overtaking at many of today’s circuits is so difficult and madeVettel in particular resort to extreme measures to gain an advantage, getting a good racestart is almost as important as qualifying itself. Keen observers of GrandPrix free practice will often notice cars practicing race starts in the pit lane on theFriday, calibrating the setup of the engine and clutch for specific circuit and tireconditions. After qualifying, other considerations need to be factored in by the raceengineers, such as grid position, fuel load and whether the car has the advantage ofstarting on the clean side of the track that is on the racing line or the dirtier side ofthe track that is off the racing line and hence has slightly less grip and traction.The driver will work closely with his race engineer and control engineer toanalyze data from practice starts, particularly those taking place at the beginning of theformation lap where conditions are as close to the actual race start as they can be. Basedon the data he receives from the tire and engine temperatures, he will ask the driver tomake adjustments to his clutch or revs and also ask the driver how many tire burnouts toperform to get them up to the optimum working temperatures.Even if you haveonly followed Formula 1 for one race, you will notice cars weaving left and right on thetrack on the formation lap and accelerating hard before braking. As tires cool quickly,this is done to get temperature into the tires as fast as possible. If all has goneaccording to plan and the driver now has his tires at an optimum temperature, he hasadjusted his clutch settings to match the track conditions and will know what to limit hispre-start revs to. It’s now all down to his driver skill.As the lightscome on, the driver will set his pre-start revs to around 13,000 rpm and is ready to dropthe clutch when the final light goes out. Before 2004, race starts were controlled byautomatic launch control, thereby eliminating driver skill. Now, admit it, readers withmanual gear shift cars. You’ve stalled your own car at the lights before,haven’t you? Well, imagine you’re holding 13,000 rmp with not onebut two clutch paddles. The F1 driver must now play a very tricky balancing act betweentire grip and torque. To stop excessive wheel spin by dropping the clutch too quickly or,conversely, prevent the engine bogging down, he holds down one clutch paddle and keeps theother on the biting point, just as you would in holding your car stationary on a hillbefore pulling away. As the lights go out, he releases the first paddle and once the carhas traction, he releases the second and rockets towards the first corner, reaching 100mph in around 4.2 seconds. But if he is late in reacting to the lights by as little as atenth of a second, his rivals will accelerate past him as if he is standing still. Continue Reading

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