F1 or LMP1: Which would win a 1000km race?

[Jungles]

If you pitched the fastest of the F1 cars (say, Brawn and RBR) against the fastest LMP1 cars (Audi and Peugeot) in a 1000km race under current technical regulations and driver line-ups, which would win?

F1 cars are tuned for maximum 2 hours or 300km, while LMP1 cars are required to run at least 1000km and up to 24 hours. Presumably, F1 cars will need to reduce maximum rpm of their engines and refuel more often, but they could still run faster in terms of lap times.

Could F1 cars be adapted for 1000km races under present technical regulations, and how would such adaptations fare against LMP1 cars?

Let's assume the track is Spa in summer dry.

To extend the scenario, how about 12 hour races? 24 hours? I'd guess that F1 cars won't last for 24 hours, although they might gasp to the finish at the 12th hour.

[Jungles]

SamHH said:

profstoff said:

If you wanted to run an F1 car for 1000 kms, you would have to design it to do so and then end up with all the compromises that go along with that.

I think that's what Jungles was asking: if you adapted an F1 car under the current F1 regulations, would it be faster than an LMP1 car under the current LMP1 regulations?

Yup. Within the current technical regulations for F1, how much could be modified to make it viable for a 1000km race? And how much of a speed penalty would result? Would an F1 car be as slow as an LMP1 if it used detuned engines, harder brake pad materials, etc.? Would an F1 car even make it to the finish?

My view is that you could use harder brake pad materials, detune the engine to around 17500rpm, but that would be about it. I think even if you could expand the fuel tanks within the BGP001 or RBR5, it wouldn't be as large as the tanks in the Audi R15 or Peugeot 906. Then there is the issue of drive-train longevity and tyre life: F1 loses out on both, especially tyres. All added up, I think the competition would be close, but an LMP1 will scrape a win over 1000km. F1 cars will need to pit at least twice as often as LMP1, more like three times as often, and then there are driver changes too.

Edited by Jungles on Friday 12th June 10:29

[Jungles]

Good point that. But how much more robust could an F1 team make its gearbox and other drive-train components? I would have thought they're already as robust as they can make them.

F1 uses control tyres. So you can't change that.

Edited by Jungles on Friday 12th June 10:36