Lewis Hamilton fastest as F1 debuts in Baku

[brucemillar]

Looks as though the team (engine mode engineer/programmer) lost it for Lewis. An incorrectly configured engine mode "not behaving as expected". Impossible for him to correct..

"But from lap four, Hamilton noticed that the engine was "de-rating" - not deploying its full electrical energy. It took the team a while to work out what it was. When they had - an engine mode had been configured incorrectly and was not behaving as expected - they could not tell him how to fix it because of the restrictions on the amount of help a driver can be given by a team over the radio.

Because Hamilton had not done anything to make it happen, because he had changed nothing on the car, he did not know where to start in looking for a fix.
"

Seems ludicrous that these settings are so complex..

"In the engine switch there are six positions and in those there are about 20 positions "

Surely a much simplified 1_2_3 (akin to our Sport 1,2,3 switch ) would suffice for in-race adjustments?

Lewis Hamilton will lose title to Nico Rosberg if mistakes keep coming - BBC Sport

Nico Rosberg also had the same issue but was able to correct it - according to his post race interview.

There were some strained pit to driver communications between most teams yesterday. Ferrari and Kimi being the usual classic.

 

[190]

Seems ludicrous that these settings are so complex

Lets hope this is one bit of technology that doesn't get transferred to road cars.

 

[whitenemesis]

Nico Rosberg also had the same issue but was able to correct it - according to his post race interview.

There were some strained pit to driver communications between most teams yesterday. Ferrari and Kimi being the usual classic.

According to Toto Wolf

"Nico was in the more fortunate situation that he did a switch change just before that kind of led him on the right path so within half a lap he went back into the right mode. Because Lewis didn't have that right path, it took him a while."

Lewis hadn't changed anything before the issue, so logic couldn't lead him to change back, unlike Nico's situation.

 

[Bellow]

Lewis Hamilton will lose title to Nico Rosberg if mistakes keep coming - BBC Sport[/url]

From the above:

'' left him 10th on the grid.

Because he was back there, his Mercedes engineers told him to use a specific engine mode for the race, which was supposed to give him more power but instead gave him less, because it had been configured wrongly.''


LH's lousy Saturday was the the start of the end of the weekend for him.
He did well to salvage a fifth place finish.

 

[bob6600]

The radio ban was supposed to stop the engineers 'driving' the cars, to which agree. However, this was ludicrous (Kimi had a similar issue) and actually stop a driver from racing. It wasn't reliability, it wasn't driver skill, it was a technical issue.

Personally I think they should have just told him and taken the penalty

 

[lfckeeper]

Im no fan of Lewis Hamilton, however, the pit team not being able to tell him how to correct the set up error was plain stupid. I like the premise of not being able to over communicate with drivers but it shouldn't be to the detriment of the race. As a result we never got to see Hamilton charge through the pack and wipe at least one person off the track with a dangerous manoeuvre

 

[Stratman]

While I can see why ship-to-shore radio has been outlawed, I feel the pit board information should be unrestricted. A yellow number 6 and a green 4 for instance would indicate where to set the yellow and green switches.

Good luck with reading them at 200mph.

 

[brucemillar]

The other point of interest here.

LH stated that switch issue became a non issue when "it fixed itself" ?

Nico was saying that he "worked it out" for himself.

Clearly a bizarre situation. Perhaps one not thought of when banning the radio comms using the rationale that they did. I think we can all agree why the ban is in place. I suspect that this was never the intent behind it.

Echo's of the other week when NR was "in the wrong mode /setting"

Remember when Michael Schumacher was caught out by the on-board camera? The commentator questioned why he did so many button pushes? That led to the stewards pulling the software and finding a hidden line of code that gave them a rocket start (banned at the time).

 

[Deleted member 113659]

Yeah, the initial radio restrictions were really meant to stop info such as "you're losing 1/10th in turn 8, 2/10th's in turn 14 on so on." I agree to radio restrictions for that kind of info.

But hopefully they can relax the rules for info such as engine modes. One could argue it's dangerous to have drivers constantly switching through engine modes for 10 or more laps. A distraction they can well do without (even more so on a street circuit.)

F1's my greatest interest in life but the race yesterday was very disappointing.

I was/am over the moon for Perez and Force India.

And as ever, loved hearing Kimi on team radio. Very entataining.


Anyone going to Silverstone?

Ant.

 

[Dryce]

I think the radio restrictions are a good thing.

If LH or any other driver had a problem then it is beholden on the teams to make the cars less complex or for the driver to practice and understand the car better.

 

[Deleted member 113659]

Great point.

 

[whitenemesis]

I think the radio restrictions are a good thing.

If LH or any other driver had a problem then it is beholden on the teams to make the cars less complex or for the driver to practice and understand the car better.

Navigating complex subsystems at 200+mph or cornering at 4G don't mix.

Simplify to Start, Race, Boost

 

[Bellow]

Yeah, the initial radio restrictions were really meant to stop info such as "you're losing 1/10th in turn 8, 2/10th's in turn 14 on so on." I agree to radio restrictions for that kind of info..

Nico was one of if not the worst for that. Radio silence served him well yesterday.

F1's my greatest interest in life but the race yesterday was very disappointing. .

I dozed off...

And as ever, loved hearing Kimi on team radio. Very entataining.

.... so missed why Kimi got a 5s penalty? What did he do to earn it?

I think the radio restrictions are a good thing.

If LH or any other driver had a problem then it is beholden on the teams to make the cars less complex or for the driver to practice and understand the car better.

LH made the point that the technology in use is mandated by the FIA! Practice! That's banned too!

Navigating complex subsystems at 200+mph or cornering at 4G don't mix.

Simplify to Start, Race, Boost

Forgot 'fuel saving' there WN.

My view is, the tech regs need loosened up. A simple swept volume or fuel usage rule and the engine format be left to the engineers. I wish!

 

[Deleted member 113659]

Nico was one of if not the worst for that. Radio silence served him well yesterday.


Yes, another one was Massa guided by Rob Smedley.


I dozed off....... so missed why Kimi got a 5s penalty? What did he do to earn it?

Kimi cut across the pit lane entry line whilst chasing a tow off a car that was pitting.

LH made the point that the technology in use is mandated by the FIA! Practice! That's banned too!

Maybe Lewis needs to get to bed early and read the user manual.


Forgot 'fuel saving' there WN.

My view is, the tech regs need loosened up. A simple swept volume or fuel usage rule and the engine format be left to the engineers. I wish!

Ant.

 

[Dryce]

LH made the point that the technology in use is mandated by the FIA! Practice! That's banned too!

They have race simulators.

And the technology is spec'ed by the FIA but (1) they probably don't have to use all of it and (b) they presumably have some discretion as to how complicated they make it for the driver in terms of modes and stuff.

[ Edit: and I meant to add I wonder if LH spends less time preparing than NR ]

 

[Dryce]

Simplify to Start, Race, Boost

Indeed.

Much as I'm against manual boxes and clutches - I feel sometimes that going back to them in F1 would be a step forward in focusing on driver skills.

 

[st13phil]

What puzzles me is if the telemetry showed that (for example) the car needed a bit more or a bit less front wing, it would be adjusted at a pitstop. So why couldn't one of the pit crew either put his paws in the cockpit during a stop and select the "right" engine mode, or alternatively instruct the driver to select an alternative engine mode once in the pits?

 

[brucemillar]

What puzzles me is if the telemetry showed that (for example) the car needed a bit more or a bit less front wing, it would be adjusted at a pitstop. So why couldn't one of the pit crew either put his paws in the cockpit during a stop and select the "right" engine mode, or alternatively instruct the driver to select an alternative engine mode once in the pits?

Agreed. I remain sceptical about the entire explanation. LH says "it fixed itself" NR says "I knew what switch to set"

Two cars, one team, two drivers = same issue. One fixes it by setting a switch another says it fixed itself.

 

[Dryce]

So why couldn't one of the pit crew either put his paws in the cockpit during a stop and select the "right" engine mode, or alternatively instruct the driver to select an alternative engine mode once in the pits?

Presumably that might have happened if LH had pitted. But to pull him in with 20 laps (was it?) to go and only losing say 1s per lap then that would cost more time in the pits than he would make up with the added risk of pushing him back into traffic.

 

[Bellow]

Re LH's 'self' reset - might they have performed the reset during his tyre stop? (I can't remember the race well enough to recall when he pitted for tyres - or how often).