I agree with quite a few of his points actually, I would love a return to the V10s. But I can't help feel that his comments damning the sport recently are just a part of his wider frustrations with his fortunes in the new era as opposed to him genuinely feeling like he wants things changed for the good of the sport.
The engines aren't going to change anytime soon, so he needs to get on with it and deal with it or just leave F1. A lot of people like the noise of the V6's, yes they aren't very loud but in time I'm sure they will be. He should focus more on improving his own performance at the moment.
Vettel's software developers better make sure they give him the power unit mapping he desire then like the rest have already. Nothing Vettel can do when the only way to sort his problem out is to go over and redesign the engine mapping to his preference, that takes coding ability, not driver ability.
Some drivers would learn to adapt, rather than rely on electronics to make them fast................. just saying
There's more to it than just software. I doubt a tweak to the engine mapping would suddenly sort all of his issues out.
Vettel was accustomed and mastered the superior Red Bull diffuser in previous years when he had car planted on the track in the corners. This is a new era in formula 1 racing and Vettel needs to get on top of that dragon and learn to ride and master it. While engine mapping to his liking will be fine, he has to master the car completely. One big example. Ricciardo.... Driving the same car without much complaints. Ok..I know... Vettel had problems with the car and is getting a new chassis, but what if he still has the same problems with the new chassis? Last year Mercedes struggled with the tyres and Ferrari had their struggles too but their drivers did the best they could and tried to drive around the problems. So Vettel needs to do likewise. He says the car doesn't know what he wants.. lol... Guy, you need to grab the bull by the horns and force it to do what you want, if it doesn't then you need to give the engineers the feedback in order for them to get it in a position for you to make it respond to your needs. It makes no sense complaining about teh V6 and all that... there is no turning back right now in that regard so he needs to just get on top of it.. the new V6 engine isnt going to go away any time soon, is it?
The engine mapping is controlled by the standard ECU software. That can not be changed. The variables can alter within defined limits. Software is coded to be user independent. The software used by DR will be identical to that used by SV. There is a difference between software code and data variables. Data variables are never ever hard coded into software. They are input manually by the race engineer. The software controlling the power unit is not engine mapping. This software should have been written by Renault. If it has been written by Red Bull then fair enough but it makes no difference. Software errors are easy to identify and correct. If the software has an error then it will effect all users not just one. I do not accept that his problems are related to anything other than himself.
Rosberg claims he is better than Hamilton in the dry Nico Rosberg is sounding far from defeated ahead of the Spanish grand prix. The German, although still leading the drivers' world championship by a few points, has seen his teammate Lewis Hamilton win the last three races on the trot. But far from expecting to fall in line behind the Briton when the battle resumes in Barcelona, Rosberg on Monday told German television RTL his plan for Spain is "full attack". "To know I have the fastest car to drive is so inspiring," said the 28-year-old. Rosberg said the goal for Barcelona is not to hold Hamilton off but to "extend the championship lead", which will almost certainly require him to beat his on-form teammate on the track. He won in Australia when Hamilton retired, but in Malaysia, Bahrain and China, Rosberg saw the other Silver Arrows with the upper hand. Bahrain, however, was a true and rare wheel-to-wheel battle, with Rosberg claiming that when all was well with the two Brackley-built cars in 2014, the Mercedes pecking order is "undecided". "I was better in the dry, him in the rain," said Rosberg. Hamilton has also hogged the qualifying limelight so far this year, but last year at the Circuit de Catalunya, it was Rosberg on pole ahead of the 2008 world champion. Now, "pole position will be very important for the battle with Lewis" this weekend, said a feisty Rosberg ahead of the 2014 Spanish race. Hamilton and Rosberg's relationship dates right back to their boyhoods, but suddenly the prize is the biggest one in the entire world of motor sport -- the F1 title. Rosberg admits that is making their personal relationship "a bit harder" than in the past. "But luckily we have experienced it all before, even right back to karting," he said. Ok Guys... Read the Headline Caption and then read the story... Sometimes I swear these writers read a totally different story...lol Wasnt Rosberg talking about a particular event were he was better in the dry and Hamilton was better in the rain? Read and judge for yourself...lol
Vettel claims he prefers to tame the V10 or V12 dragons..well then he should have no problem taming the V6 pussycat?
Software goes a long way with these cars, both under braking and acceleration. Brake by wire was always going to be a unique issue and Mercedes would always be the leader in electronic brakes as they use it in their roads cars. I think it described Vettel's problem pretty well in my opinion: http://www.racecar-engineering.com/articles/2014-f1-explained-what-is-brake-by-wire/
Where in the article does it mention SV? We have gone from EBD, broken chassis, engine mapping, power unit software, power unit bhp and now BBW. What next? Have we ruled out DR being better?
Considering Vettel says he is struggling under braking: "The car does not know what I want, under braking and in the corners I have an absolute lack of confidence," Seems to me a very likely brake by wire issue which is software controlled at the rear, which I've been saying for weeks now. This can be modified thanks to the relaxing of the rules on ECU coding which you were mistaken on by the way so I'm confused by what you meant by: Is just completely off the mark by what the FIA say here that they can do their own coding compared to previous years and in quite a moderate degree as well with regards to energy recovery under braking and acceleration: http://www.formula1.com/news/features/2014/4/15763.html "Prior to this year all the control software, everything that was managing the engine - the gearbox, differential, clutch and so on - was standard code. The teams had no ability to change that code,” says Alan Prudom, who heads up the FIA software analysis team at the races. “This year the teams have been given more freedom, in that they are able to write some of their own code. It is still within the same standard ECU as last year, but there are some areas we’ve set aside for which the teams can write code. That’s primarily for things like the management of energy recovery systems, the way the energy is balanced around the unit. They can have an influence on choosing strategies for the way in which engine power is delivered, what proportion is from the internal combustion engine and what comes from the battery and the associated motors." Maybe you could explain in more detail by what you mean? Anyway some more articles on the brake by wire system highlighting it's role to provide stable and consistent braking for the driver: http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2014/...w-f1-cars-and-how-does-it-affect-the-drivers/ http://www.formula1.com/news/interviews/2014/1/15428.html http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/1...wire-system-now-used-in-f1-could-prove-tricky https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/formula-1-raikkonen-brake-wire-root-issues-151935494--f1.html Has problem with corner entry like Vettel. http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2014/03/14/rosberg-struggling-brake-wire/ etc, etc etc.
I think that you are getting yourself confused regarding your understanding of the the different electronic systems. If you had read my original post you would have seen that I made clear that “engine mapping” software was not the same as “power unit” control software. I clearly stated that the power unit software was the responsibility of either Renault or Red Bull, which is exactly what Produm is saying, and that engine mapping was controlled by the ECU software. Brake By Wire was banned before 2014 as it is clearly a “driver aid”. The teams insisted on it being allowed because of the complexity of the torque coming from the power unit. The concept of the BBW is that the rear brakes react exactly to the input from the driver using his brake pedal irrespective of the charging condition or the utilising of the power unit. Therefore, the driver should not feel any change from his brake pedal position and the response from the rear wheels. Driver Aid. Same as the throttle pedal. Control by wire, has been for a very long time.
Thanks for clearing that up for me with regards to the mapping. Brake by wire might be a driver aid, but it's still a complicated system that depends on driver preference working for them when the MGU-K stops collecting energy under braking. If the brake by wire doesn't do it's job properly in giving a consistent feel for him than the driver is going to suffer no matter who is driving. Driving style will be a factor here so one reference point for one driver will be entirely different to another. Kimi and Vettel for example suffer with it compared to their team mates so it's obvious they're not getting the consistent driver aid benefit their team mates are getting when approaching a corner. It isn't like this brake by wire does the job for them and that's it, like with ABS and traction control. It still has to be optimized to properly work for each individual in the car. It's a driver aid which needs to be properly exploited by the power unit engineers in the software department so the driver feels happy with it and that the car can collect energy at the same time. The whole energy software is meant to help stability as much as possible. “Brake by wire is a massive for us in 2014, you have control system mapping, driver mapping to get him comfortable, you have state of charge control, making sure the battery topped up at the right time and temperature and vibration and that is just one system” Williams Chief Test Engineer Rod Nelson explains. “The driver needs to have a good feeling of ******ation versus pressure that is not steppy or moves around, it has to stay the same. He can adjust the bias forwards or rearwards as in the past but we are also balancing how much energy he uses from the rears with how much we are trying to recover. Its key to the mapping and the brake setup that when you come off the brakes there is no residual force that may give a little bit of instability or a lock up. Some drivers are very very sensitive to this. We can model the brakes on the simulator and that is what we have done, but they are not straightforward as there is a thermal effect, the amount of stopping power the brakes have depends on the temperature of the brake so that's an input we need to understand. We set a recovery target for each lap, so whatever a driver does not put in the MGU does. We have had issues with losing brake by wire and the driver ends up on his own. The pedal has a very different feel when that happens it is much softer than you expect it to be. More significantly the brake bias shifts substantially, so if you come into a corner with a BBW failure then you are going to get a wake up call, it gets them thinking.”
Has Vettel ever driven a fully-fledged V10 or V12 in anger to enable him to make that comment? I don't think he has. As for 'real' power, these units were around 800-850bhp at their height, so hardly massively more powerful (if at all) compared to the combined bhp of the new powertrains. I think Vettel is also struggling with the way the new engines work i.e. you have to think about how much throttle to input because of the torque spinning up the rear wheels too early. As for 'taming a beast', again he's never had to, his successes have come from when the car was planted on the road thanks to Newey's excellent aero work. The real beasts were the original turbo cars. He should have no issues in quali where you don't need to worry about fuel limits, so why can he not 'tame' his car on a one-off flying lap? Also his comments about F1 being loud and 'dangerous' are somewhat ill-timed with the 20th anniversary of Imola. It all smacks of sour grapes as he isn't winning and is also being beaten by his teammate. New territory for Vettel, he should shut up and let his driving do the talking.
Monaco and Barcelona could be a chance for Red Bull to reach the top step! [h=1]Red Bull Formula 1 team set for Renault engine boost for Spanish GP[/h] Wonder if the other Renault teams will get this 'reliability' update
I doubt that, they probably wont get it until Monaco like the last update they had. The Red Bull Formula 1 team's hopes of launching a serious challenge on Mercedes from the Spanish Grand Prix have received a boost, with engine supplier Renault expecting 'promising' progress. The reigning F1 champion outfit has struggled with a power deficit against pacesetter Mercedes so far this year, but still thinks it can make the steps needed to get itself back in the title hunt. Following a rapid recovery from testing woes by Renault, and with the RB10 chassis having shown itself to be so strong, even small steps could be enough for it to cause a big headache for Mercedes. GARY ANDERSON: Who has the best chassis in F1? So with the next tracks in Spain and Monaco not being so power dependent and therefore better playing to the strengths of the Red Bull package, the upbeat talk from Renault could be significant. Remi Taffin, Renault's head of track operations, said: "I would not say optimism, as we are still on realism. "But it is fair to say that coming into Barcelona or Monaco, they are not going to be massively power sensitive. "They are energy sensitive, though, so in the race it is always going to be important to have the power unit working right. "But ahead of Montreal we want to have something that is very close to 100 per cent. "All in all, it is looking promising. But we mustn't forget about reliability. "However, I think Renault has never been as pushy as we are at the minute looking at reliability." SOFTWARE TWEAKS KEY Even though F1's current power units are homologated, Taffin thinks that decent improvements are still possible. That is because a great deal of laptime comes not from the out-and-out power of the turbo engine, but from better management of F1's new energy recovery systems. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, Chinese GP 2014, Shanghai "Performance is going to come from software evolution, and a bit coming from the hardware," he said. "If we solve some issues we have got on the V6 for example, then you can maybe take a bit more out of it. "If you unlock something, it gives you a double or triple effect. It is the way the power unit is being run these days." However, other areas - like fuel performance - could become more important over the remainder of the season. "There is more than just the V6 turbo and electrical machine to get performance out of the power unit," added Taffin. "We can talk about oil, and we can discuss about fuel. We still have a good work in progress with Total in terms of fuel, so definitely there is more to come."
[h=1]Jenson Button: McLaren needs to understand its 2014 F1 car better[/h] Deja Vu anyone? They're ****ing clueless.
You have to start questioning the feedback being given by the drivers as well as this seems to be a continuing theme for McLaren. Drivers are generally the stupid ones in a team so I fail to see how all these engineers and designers can keep getting it wrong on their own, without the drivers telling them what the car is and isn't doing out on the track correctly.
