Ask an F1 Engineer anything
Discussion
shirt]when pundits talk of a car being suited to / tailored to one driver [usually the no.1 said:
but not the other, is that something inherent to the design of the car or just that more hours of simulation and testing are devoted to optimising the set-up for that driver? surely the range of adjustment in the car enables it to work with more than one driving style.
do modern driving styles differ that much anyway?
Some drivers prefer a certain setup, and excel when it's perfectly tuned to suit them. Some have the ability to extract the most from whatever they're given. Each car will be set up to get the most for what each driver wants.do modern driving styles differ that much anyway?
Good example - Seb in the 2011 Red Bull. He took certain corners flat without lifting, where Mark couldn't, as he was more comfortable with the balance/what the car was doing. Fast forward to 2020 and Seb is dramatically slower in the Ferrari than his team mate, as this car inherently seems to suit Charles more. Or more likely Charles is more capable of getting the most from whatever he's given.
Driving styles do differ. The best drivers alter their styles to suit the car, usually lap to lap as variables change.
otolith said:
Are you ever allowed to take cool things out of the bin?
No, nor would there be an opportunity. For obvious reasons all parts are accounted for and any surplus/scrap parts are destroyed. The only relatively avant-garde bits I have seen out in the real world are from sales of teams that have entered administration.Benrad said:
How useful is benchmarking the other teams (within the rules)?
My experience of benchmarking, as a performance and emissions engineer developing heavy duty diesel engines, is that most of the value is in testing the engine, not photographing it. You get some data from F1 and you can take pictures and 3D scan on the grid until this year, nothing like what we get by putting the competitor engine into a test cell. Unless you get some actual hard data I just can't imagine there being much value in copying, I'd imagine there's a very real risk of making your own design worse rather than better.
Makes sense Benrad. For obvious reasons you can't benchmark like that in F1.My experience of benchmarking, as a performance and emissions engineer developing heavy duty diesel engines, is that most of the value is in testing the engine, not photographing it. You get some data from F1 and you can take pictures and 3D scan on the grid until this year, nothing like what we get by putting the competitor engine into a test cell. Unless you get some actual hard data I just can't imagine there being much value in copying, I'd imagine there's a very real risk of making your own design worse rather than better.
Benrad said:
Second, more human, question. Have you ever had any specific recognition from a driver about a part you designed/change you made either privately or through the media?
Yes, certainly in the earlier days when teams were smaller. 
king V12s"?C2Red said:
Is there a point though in which the scale modelling is ineffective, or less effective; due I suggest to the simple physical nature of air molecules being a fixed size.
Their proportional size to the scale of the models must surely have an impact on how they react to the surface of any part of a F1 car; don’t they?
Fortunately a clever engineer in the 1800s worked all this out - google 'Reynolds number' and 'similitude' Their proportional size to the scale of the models must surely have an impact on how they react to the surface of any part of a F1 car; don’t they?
StevieBee said:
What's the view on fans from the inside?
There's a book by a former mechanic that came out a fair few years back now in which he alluded to his view that fans were a 'necessarily burden' and I'd be interested if this a widely held view the other side of the fence.
It's not a sport without fans, plus I like the buzz fans bring to any live event.There's a book by a former mechanic that came out a fair few years back now in which he alluded to his view that fans were a 'necessarily burden' and I'd be interested if this a widely held view the other side of the fence.
BaronVonVaderham said:
Great thread, thank you op!
You are welcome!BaronVonVaderham said:
Have you ever driven an F1 car?
No.BaronVonVaderham said:
Best perk of the job?
When you get to show your nearest and dearest where you work and what you do.BaronVonVaderham said:
Is it well paid or something people do for passion?
Does anyone think they're paid enough? 
In all seriousness, you have to be passionate to do the hours, the time away from home and maintain the effort levels.BaronVonVaderham said:
Are the current tyres hated by the engineers as a much as the drivers?
They are what they are, effort is best spent getting the most from them.BaronVonVaderham said:
Would you bring back refuelling?
Yes.BaronVonVaderham said:
Can you tell the FOM lot that we all hate the hairdryer hybrids and lobby for the return of louder/simpler engines?
No, that's the job of the fans.BaronVonVaderham said:
Do you think the 2022 rules will actually improve the racing and mix up the field?
Who knows? One hopes so.Integrator_Type_R said:
What's the most embarrassing or funny to you at the time, mistake/mishap/common sense failure/blunder that you've seen or even had a hand in? Not talking drivers pranging it on an install lap in testing or even various pit stop shenanigans but anything like making a part but misreading the scale or dimension on the drawing? Threads the wrong round? Buttons or switches not connected to anything?
As an adjunct to that... the best/most hilarious workshop or garage prank? Or are F1 engineers and technicians too straightlaced and serious for such japes?
Similar to your suggests, things installed upside down or back to front.As an adjunct to that... the best/most hilarious workshop or garage prank? Or are F1 engineers and technicians too straightlaced and serious for such japes?
Usual age old japes one might expect if they've ever worked in an engineering environment - 'pop to the stores and ask for a long weight' etc.
DanielSan said:
The worst driver you've had to work with? Either from a lack of feedback point of view or them just being an almighty bell end?
I won't name names as that's personal, and they're effectively ex-colleguees. The media does a fairly good job of capturing the general impression of them.One moment does spring to mind though:
https://youtu.be/cDmW72a9X_o
patmahe said:
How has working in F1 lived up to your expectation, what is it like in reality?
It's been so long ago now, that I can't remember what my expectations were. It's constant, hard work and hours upon end of high concentration - there are days/weeks that go by where you wonder where the time has gone. On top of that you have to be reactive to changing situations/plans all the time, so sometimes it can be hard to make commitments outside of work.patmahe said:
How do you feel about the number of races that are being run nowadays and the impact that could have on the home lives of staff at time when teams are being forced to cut back because of budget restrictions?
20 seems like a good number. It's a hard act to balance.Edited by AnonymousF1 on Saturday 9th January 11:10
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