Not surprised, remember seeing their pitstops throughout that GP and they were unbelievably quick! Can any team really do a sub 2 second stop in China?
I think China might be a little soon, but it wouldn't surprise me if we see the 2 second barrier broken this season. I'm curious if they've further improved their routine from last year, or just drilled this one to perfection.
That's my thinking, taking into consideration of reaction time of all involved, process of taking the nut off, wheel off, wheel on and tightening, they must be close to "perfection" already. High 1.9s may/must be the limit..
What's really impressive is the fact they pulled it off so consistently, breaking the record 5 times. Whereas McLaren will do one or two fast stops followed by a colossal ****up.
It's a bit like the 100m's though, everyone said 10s was the limit, and now pretty much all finalists run sub that. You can always get stronger mechanics capable of shifting the tyres slightly quicker, or faster wheel guns. Whether the investment needed is worth the returns is another question. Saving 0.1s twice or 3 times a race really just removes one lock-up by a driver. Red Bulls consistency is as impressive as the actual speed.
please log in to view this image Mesmerising... It's not actually the quickest stop, this is Vettel's 2.13s stop, not Webber's 2.05s, but the camera angle is better on this one, the other one cuts awkwardly mid-stop.
Sub two seconds is probably just about physically possible but I agree with above comments that there must indeed be a barrier, and that it surely cannot be much below 2 seconds. Getting close to this barrier is one thing, but Red Bull's consistency is perhaps even more impressive. It is logical to predict other teams eventually closing in on this barrier and as this becomes more common-place, we may see a shift in focus to other time-costly aspects already present but very difficult to measure – which therefore tend to evade public scrutiny: 1] braking to line where the speed limit begins. 2] the all-critical 'full-stop' where one tries to remain at the speed limit right into the box and finish exactly on one's mark in the shortest time. Scary stuff for the unsung heroes of F1: the all-trusting pit-crew. 3] the exit from box to speed limit, although this is so routine and accurately governed by engine mode that there is little a driver can gain here. 4] and less importantly, a driver's reaction on departing the speed restriction at precisely the right place. The second point in particular is already as critical as how long a car is physically stationary.
It's an interesting thought isn't it, Westy? There must be a limit on physical processes (which I think probably includes thinking, but I had to think about that for a moment!). But 'in the limit', this genuinely becomes a peculiar concept (to me). For instance, how fast can a man run unaided over a measured distance? Roger Bannister broke the four minute mile 'barrier' long ago and, according to Wiki, Hicham El Guerrouj set the present record of 3:43.13 back in 1999. I'm sure that when Bannister set his record, few people would have envisaged someone lopping off almost 17 seconds. But if that time was achieved, certainly 3:43.12 seems very likely. At the very least, it is entirely plausible. However, what I find inconceivable is that a mile might ever be run in 1 second (without some bizarre time-warp), so there must be a limit on physical processes which restrict what is achievable to somewhere in between. I suppose 'in the limit', we become ever more dependant upon the accuracy of measuring devices to prove the slightest improvement…
I love the fast pitstops, one of the best things about the refuelling ban. please log in to view this image
Van Der garde at life at the back of the grid: "It is different. [Before in GP2] you wait [at the front of the grid], look in the mirror, the cars are coming, first gear and away you go. Here it is like, select neutral and oh **** the lights go on.
Formula 1 teams set for extra test in 2014 to work on engines Sensible enough really; Teams have been lobbying for an early first test, but although it is impossible to bring forward the first test significantly, a proposal is on the table for a fourth pre-season test to be added. "There is what looks like quite a mature proposal to have an additional test session [pre-season] which we are completely in favour of," Renault Sport F1 deputy managing director Rob White told AUTOSPORT. "I don't know what the format would be or where it would be, but we're of the assumption that it will be an additional session for all teams and it's not optional as everyone will want and need it."
Why do I get the feeling one engine will be massively slower / less fuel efficient than both of the others and even more testing time will be demanded to fix it?
I'm sure these new engines have done many hundreds and thousands of miles on the Dyno already, so reliability in the old fashioned sense of engines blowing up as soon as they start a lap in anger should be a thing of the past. Agreed, some will be more powerful, some more fuel efficient, bit like the current engines, Mercs have more grunt the Renaults are more frugal in their use of fuel.. However if one engine supplier can come up with an engine with the most power whilst being most efficient, then they'll certainly have a jump start on the rest of the field. With regards to the engines, will the designs be locked down once submitted or will there be a grace period, allow the engine suppliers to sort out any issues with them and then, say from 2015 they can't touch the engine block for 4/5 years?
Some vaguely related to F1 news. The new GP3 car finished its tests in Silverstone today, the major change is a upping from 280 to 400HP. The result in this was to knock 5s off the GP3 lap times for the Arena circuit at Silverstone making the GP3 car about 80% as fast as a F1 car and getting very close to GP2 speeds. The GP3/13 uses the same monocoque as the first-generation machine, meaning that teams will only have to upgrade their existing cars, rather than buy new ones.
