Gary Anderon, former race car designer and current expert for The Race, shares how to solve a long-standing problem that often creates dangerous situations on the track.
There is a long-standing problem in Formula 1 that could one day lead to a serious accident, and only then will everyone think why nothing has ever been done before to avoid such consequences. We’re talking about “moving chicanes,” which are created by riders moving slowly around the track, while others are currently doing fast laps.
Even in the qualifying final, when there are only a few cars left on the track, the situation is not much better. In fact, it only gets worse, because at the end of the session, when the coverage improves, everyone tries to climb to higher positions.
On some circuits the problem is more pronounced as it depends on the configuration of the ring, but it is always there and we regularly hear drivers complaining about other cars getting in their way.
In Australia during Friday’s practice, when the GPS system failed, we saw how difficult it can be, because the teams couldn’t warn the drivers about which cars were overtaking them, and several sharp situations ensued.
Things were further complicated in Melbourne by the fact that the tires allowed multiple attempts during qualifying, leading some drivers to alternate fast and slow laps, and in many cases also do a second slow lap to warm up the tyres.
Accidents have been avoided so far, but for now. Perhaps Formula 1 came closest to a critical point towards the end of the first part of qualifying, which preceded the 2019 Australian Grand Prix. Daniil Kvyat, then with Toro Rosso, was on the fast lap and was forced into the penultimate corner avoiding George Russell’s Williams, who was dragged into line ahead of Alex Albon’s Toro Rosso and Kimi Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo.
Each of these three wanted to win something in order to start the fast lap in the best possible way. The speed difference was huge and Kvyat could get into a very serious mess.
With the arrival of new circuits on the championship calendar – such as Jeddah in Saudi Arabia – with their blind high-speed corners, the problem has only gotten worse.
Such situations must be ruled out and there is a solution, and quite simple, based on existing technologies. The FIA has already introduced such a parameter as the maximum lap time, which the riders are not allowed to exceed, but the federation controls it in too large a “window” – on the whole circle as a whole.
Instead, we need a system that gives the drivers the maximum possible lap time so that the cars can’t creep too slowly at any point in the lap. This eliminates the scenario where someone drives fast, ahead of schedule, at the start of the lap only to slow down at the end.
You can just take your time in all three sectors, add a certain percentage to it to create a certain limit that you have to meet. The percentage may vary depending on the route – in addition, it can be changed in each session and set individually for each sector.
Then the display that each rider has on the handlebars will show “delta” – the time frame in which you should meet. It will show how fast the rider is going compared to his best lap. You just have to program the system to show the exit laps from the pits, the laps the driver does at a leisurely pace, the pit return laps.
If it were up to me, I would add 15% to the time in each sector in training, and in qualifying I would reduce this “delta” to 10%. As the weekend progresses, this can all be adjusted depending on the pace the machine is capable of, ring configuration and other factors.
It is important to develop such a system, test it, identify and eliminate weaknesses, and if everyone or at least the majority likes the way it works, implement it fully.
Some may argue that such a system will not achieve optimal tire preparation, but everyone will be on an equal footing and you can adapt to this. The problem can also be solved by making the rubber less sensitive to temperature; perhaps this is exactly what will happen when a ban on the use of thermal covers is introduced in 2024. However, so far this seems unlikely.
I’m not talking about returning to the qualifying format where everyone gets one try, although this is the most effective way to handle traffic.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
