But we do know who is using the most fuel, because this is based on the fuel flow rate. So we know how much fuel they are using. We just don't know how much they have left. Really the graphic would make more sense if it told us how much fuel they had used rather than what remained. At least we could see whether a driver had used more or less than another.
New question. Why wasn't alonso dsq'd from quali. The FIA reported that the ERS was outputting to much power. Not the drivers fault, but neither is to little fuel for sample, to much flow etc.
Because the other drivers don't have Ferrari and Santander backing them and being the only reason a country is watching F1.
Don't you think this depends upon what it is one wants to know, Bhaji? To me, what the graphic provides is rather interesting. An example of its usefulness is that it provides tangible evidence that driver x (Hamilton for instance) has generally been running with a heavier car OR that he is driving more economically as the race unfolds (by virtue of the fact that he has either had more fuel in the tank to begin with or has not used it so quickly) OR a combination of the two. Since we and the FIA do not know how much is in the tank at the start of the race, this is represented in the graphic as having more of the 100kg allowed still available as the race unfolds. If the measurement was not a reflection of usage relative to what is allowed, no such evidence would exist because we would not know the amount of fuel any particular driver had, relative to any other OR how their driving might be influencing fuel usage. The present method is the only way I can see, in which the public can be provided with this information whilst still allowing a team to choose how much fuel they actually decide to load into the car – which, as already stated, is not regulated. Despite the potential for confusion (which I understand has, frustratingly, affected at least one broadcaster's lead commentator, thereby making matters worse), I see no better way to represent what is happening to the public. We need to bear in mind two things; one: we cannot know how much fuel a team begins with; and two: the real-time read out actually does provide evidence of how quickly fuel is being used! (You would need to study it very carefully and probably in slow motion after the race, in order to see precisely how quickly a driver's percentage of fuel is coming down). The only obvious alternative (failing that of dictating exactly how much fuel every team MUST carry) would seem to be that the graphic displays actual fuel flow in terms of kg/hrs, as required by the FIA and measured by their sensor; but the public would still not know how much fuel was in the tank, thereby leaving everyone guessing even more than now. At least with the present system, we can all see that driver x has used y% of what he is allowed at any given point during the race. And as already mentioned, this allows one to draw conclusions about car weights and/or driving styles. Another solution might be the following, but would probably be unnecessarily cumbersome (and perhaps too complicated for the average viewer). Have the present graphics system coupled with what I've just described about a readout of instantaneous fuel flow. This would leave all viewers with the headache of calculating one against the other – if they were sufficiently interested… Furthermore, let's not forget F1 is trying not to dictate everything to a team. At least with the present system, we have provision for a team to vary how much fuel they choose to carry, whilst still being able to provide relevant information to the public.
I rest my case. What might be better would be showing their average fuel flow so you can see who's sucking the most fuel without having to know fuel load or worry about ambiguous percentages.
In F1, nothing's simple! Any solution is a compromise. For instance, average fuel flow would camouflage how a driver might be using fuel at different rates at different points during a race, and whether such tactical driving might vary from one circuit to another.
True.... But you'd be able to do a side by side comparison of competing drivers over a period of laps, similar to lap times.
But doesn't it debunk the myth that Hamilton would have been poor on fuel conservation and that he would have been the one most likely to suffer from over consumption? Also that he would struggle with tyre wear? So far it has been the opposite...so either he has been working on his driving skills very hard or most people in the racing know were totally wrong as most commentators believed this.
There was something I couldn't understand in the Spain race....I couldn't understand why they brought in Hamilton at the end of the second stint with mediums..I think he was still doing better times than Rosberg on hards.... I thought they would have let him run a little longer seeing his times weren't really dropping away from Rosberg's. I would have thought he would gone on a couple laps longer and then he would have less to do on the slower hard tyres. I think Hamilton even asked how was he doing the laps lap and they said the lap was good and then he asked so why did you bring me in then.... I don't know if anyone has any thoughts about that...Sgt? Silver? Anybody?
Another thing is...today Wolff had Hamilton working on the starts trying to see if they could find the problem Rosberg is having with the clutch. But isn't that a little "hard" for Hamilton to be working on something to help Rosberg beat him? Actually he also said he didn't get a chance to work on his own setup to fix the problems he was having. I guess tomorrow Rosberg will work on Hamilton's setup problems..lol It's good they are helping each other though...if they are both at their best then you can compare them and it should be good fun for the races. Hamilton tests solutions for Rosberg's start issues ESPN Staff May 13, 2014 Part of Lewis Hamilton's testing programme at Barcelona on Tuesday was focused on solving a clutch issue team-mate Nico Rosberg has been struggling with at the start of recent races. Hamilton was at the wheel of the W05 on Tuesday in Barcelona, but had his running limited by a wet morning before working on engine management and aero evaluations as well as practice starts in the afternoon. Ahead of the test team boss Toto Wolff revealed that Rosberg was struggling with starts and that Mercedes had made it a "special project" to get to the bottom of the issue. "On the starts we have a problem on Nico's car," Wolff said. "It seems to be a problem related to the clutch. That is a special project of ours; we expected some improvement for Barcelona which didn't kick in as expected. We just need to sort it out for Monaco because that's crucial there and we discussed it in the debrief." After testing on Tuesday, Hamilton said he had been working on the issue ahead of Monaco where a start can make all the difference. "The start at every race is important, but Nico's been a little bit unhappy with some of the starts and as a team we have been okay but it could be better. We were really trying to focus on that to see if we could improve it." Hamilton said the weather and track conditions meant there was not much point in working on set-up. "Today was kind of a non-eventful day really. There was nothing that a test driver couldn't do and I was just putting in laps really and working on the starts. We didn't really change much and the track conditions and temperatures were different so there isn't really much you can compare to the weekend."
Better to bring him in before the tyres start to go off and you begin to lose ground. That could have given the advantage to Rosberg. Both sides of the garage were doing all they could to win that race and it was won with small margins in strategy.
Any driver who finds it difficult to adapt to the demands of what is needed NOW will sooner or later find himself trailing in someone else's wake. I'll probably upset a few people by highlighting those who I think do it better or worse, so for my own safety, I'll leave the reader to decide! In no particular order here's a shortlist of some likely candidates: Perez, Raikkonen, Vettel, Rosberg, Ricciardo, Alonso, Hamilton, Maldonado, Grosjean, Button, Magnussen.*See below. Hamilton's first season in F1 earned him the dubious reputation as a tyre-shredder (especially the rears) and although there are always many factors, there are strong arguments to suggest this was one of the biggest reasons for not winning the WDC that year. Perhaps there were some gremlins in his head, but in terms of pure driving, this was his most serious weakness. Then, as F1 moved towards even less durable tyres, the need to adapt became paramount. Two drivers demonstrated exceptional ability in this regard: Perez and Button â but Button, was (and still can be) very quick. Hamilton scratched his head a few times at what Button was achieving. He took notice and knuckled down to some serious study to learn from his incoming team mate. Within a season, he had pretty much mastered the technique (although Button is undoubtedly the smoothest driver since Damon Hill) and Hamilton's tyre-wrecking days were left in the past. But there was another bonus: a smoother technique requires less energy. In general it causes less wear for every component (and not least the driver!). This is particularly true of the transmission â which ultimately ends with the tyres. But it also requires less in terms of driver input and â critically in this new era â fuel consumption. So as for "the myth" you mention, Dhel; the first half of your final sentence would seem a lot more likely than what follows it! *Off topic, but may be of interest for comparing driver line-ups. Please note: this is a deliberate generalisation; not a deliberate wind-up! In general, those better able to adapt will tend to be the stronger drivers. Obvious, eh? Yeah, maybe so⦠â¦But oddly enough, it does throw up something rather interesting. Smaller differences between team mates tend to hint at the pair of them being stronger than when differences are larger. This is because at the top level in virtually anything, differences tend to reflect weaknesses rather than strengths. The underlying reason for this is that as one approaches the top, differences become less and less noticeable. Those 'right up there' have usually achieved a level of excellence well beyond the reach of more than 99% competing in the sport, and in general, it is also these very people who are best able to adapt to new ideas and circumstance â which is why they are there! Although there may be occasional anomalies through opportunity and sponsorship, with a grid consisting of between 66% to 75% of the very best drivers in the world at any given moment and in any given era, F1 is â and always has been â right at the top of motor racing: a sport competed in by hundreds of thousands worldwide.
Pretty sure the fuel usage graphic displays kilograms of fuel used now rather than a percentage to avoid this confusion. I think it's more trumpet blowing by the FIA to show how little fuel the cars are using these days more than anything else. It's interesting to see exactly how different drivers approach a grand prix fuel-wise though; it appears Hamilton started the race light in Spain to guarantee track position at the start, knowing he'd then get preference at the pitstops and that it's virtually impossible to overtake at Barcelona, he'd be able to save fuel without worrying too much about Rosberg. Rosberg was able to push harder because he had to save less fuel, but the race was lost by the first corner. Which Porsche have been quite critical of by the way. They should just scrap fuel-flow limits, if the engines are really more efficient they shouldn't need to artificially limit fuel usage.
No driver will ever be on form for the whole period of their career as with the sport constantly changing it will never allow that. Like Cosicave points out with Lewis he struggled with a weakness and overcame it in which I respect more than his WDC. He pretty much nullified it in 2012 compared with 2010-2011 and even now has progressed even further with it which is highly impressive to go from then to now. The Lewis of 2014 is vastly more impressive than the younger one in my opinion. I've been close to years saying Hamilton is by far the most complete driver around at the moment more so than Alonso and Vettel. He has the head and the speed of this new era which I respect and he really did his homework for this era to keep ahead of Rosberg. Yeah the car is vastly faster than anything else on grid, but he is still dominating his own category until somebody else can step up and challenge him. I think it's ludicrous if people actually believe any driver can keep getting (180's etc) if the darts keep being changed. It's a matter of "when" you trip up rather than "if" you trip up. Even I knew at the start of 2013 that come 2014 Vettel's approach to Formula 1 goes flying out the window etc. Sorry Mr Seb a new term has started and you're not top dog anymore like in the previous era so you better crack on. Seb having a few poor performances (bent chassis or not) shows how strong the field is rather than that he is doing extremely badly in my opinion anyway. His performance in Spain was one step of many to come, even if it takes 1 year or 3 I doubt any driver is going to sit down and let it happen.
So his day of testing is helping Rosberg, he must be thrilled. I think it's time Mercedes let the drivers and their side of garage resolve their issues out themselves, Rosberg has used Hamilton's data twice on race weekends and now he's getting help with his starts from him too. The constructors championship will surely be won by them but the drivers title is still in the balance. I don't think any of drivers want to be helping each other out throughout the season, especially if they are still in the title picture.
I've been trying to think of an analogy that doesn't involve football, but I'm struggling. Hamilton is grabbing the 1-0 wins at the moment, he's not playing great (compared to the other team) but he's still grabbing the wins. I get the feeling that Rosberg is more put out by the fact that a not brilliant Hamilton is still beating him. There's one more 'Rosberg track' and then we head to some serious 'Hamilton tracks'. Theres plenty of time for the tables to turn but Rosberg needs to stick at it like he's currently doing, he may well win the championship by simply being consistent. Baring a error or failure who ever gets pole at Monaco will win the race. Then we head to Canada where baring a error or failure Hamilton will run away with it. Rosberg needs a win in Monaco to try and unsettle Hamilton for the likes of Canada, GB and Hungary.
But we don't, that is the point. Hypothetical I know, but if Hamilton started with 90kg and Nico started with 110kg, the % of capacity would not reflect the individual equally. Hamilton's usage technically should be a % of a % whereby Nico's would only be a % of capacity. I would assume that Nico would burn the extra 10kg on the outlap/inlap and sample needed for the Scruitineer. Nico has used 100% of his capacity in the race whereby Lewis has used 80% (90kg (-) 10kg for the In/Out Laps and sample)Alternatively, Nico could still have 20kg in the tank, unlikely I know but possible. If as AG states it's KG used (as opposed to a %) then that is different, but I'm pretty sure it's shown as % - I may be wrong. If it is a %, clarification needs to be established on whether or not it is of capicity! or what they physically start with.
The technical regulation for the power unit fuel mass flow is clearly stated in articles 5.1.5 and 5.1.5 which set a max fuel mass flow rate of 100kg/h at, and above, 10500rpm with this maximum reducing as the rpm decreases in line with the formula outlined in 5.1.5. These are maximum values and there is no margin for error if one exceeds these values. The flow rate is monitored by the new ultrasonic sensor, supplied by Gill Sensors, and as discussed previously the accuracy and reliability of this sensor is key, as the ultimate performance of the car depends on it. Just to complicate matters even further
