Podcast: Braking Bias
Published Date:
Fri, 13 Oct 2023 09:00:00 -0400
Duration:
3403
Explicit:
False
Guests:
""
MP3 Audio:
Please note that the summary is generated based on the transcript and may not capture all the nuances or details discussed in the podcast episode.
Welcome back for the 5th episode of Braking Bias! Moll and Dr. Obbs tackle tons of trick tech topics in this episode.
They start off with discussing the tyre turmoil in Qatar, how this could have happened from a technical standpoint. Before diving into the driver cooling dilemma and how current aerodynamic design strategies could have contributed, while Molly offers an interesting take around understanding F1 cockpit conditions and what could be done to prevent this again.
The team finishes up their Qatar recap discussing how the tyre rules impacted race pace, their take on THAT Lap 1 incident between George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, and ask 'what is going on with Ferrari?' After strong showings in Singapore and Suzuka.
Finally the they wrap up with a USGP preview, discussing the upgrades that are expected to debut, what they expect and why COTA is a track to debut them at.
Settle in, set your bias aside and get Braking Bias!
The Breaking Bias podcast episode opens with a vibrant discussion about the thrilling Qatar Grand Prix weekend and its implications for Formula One. Hosts Dr. Obbs and Molly Marissa share their immediate thoughts and reactions, placing particular emphasis on the tire turmoil that unfolded during the race.
Diving into the technical intricacies of the tire issues, the hosts explain the sidewall separation phenomenon caused by high oscillation events in specific curb sections. Pirelli's mandate of a maximum of 18 laps on tires transformed the race into a strategic three-stop challenge.
The conversation then shifts to the physics behind the tire failures, exploring factors like high-speed corners, lateral loads, and the unique track surface. Questions are raised about communication breakdowns among suppliers, the series, and teams, along with the potential impact of the resurfaced track.
The hosts transition to discuss driver cooling and safety concerns arising from the high ambient temperatures and enclosed cockpits in Formula One. Noting the lack of data on driver core temperatures, they propose solutions such as cockpit scoops, mandatory cool suits, and helmet-mounted cooling systems.
Molly suggests three potential solutions for driver cooling: implementing cockpit scoops similar to IndyCar, mandating cool suits under fire suits, and integrating helmet-mounted cooling systems leveraging existing airflow features.
Emphasizing the amplified stress on drivers due to tire limitations and the high-paced race, the hosts discuss potential issues like G-locking, where acceleration forces restrict oxygen flow to the brain.
he hosts express hope that the series will explore and implement effective strategies to ensure the well-being of drivers.
Shifting gears, the hosts discuss the McLaren team's impressive performance at the Qatar Grand Prix, securing a 1-2 finish in the sprint shootout. They attribute McLaren's success to a technical turnaround, structural changes, and the leadership of Andrea Stella.
Highlighting McLaren's record-breaking 1.8-second pit stop, the hosts praise the precision and teamwork involved. The podcast then delves into Ferrari's puzzling performance, speculating on issues like a misfire in Charles Leclerc's car, wind sensitivity, and potential reliability concerns.
The hosts analyze the first-lap incident between Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, emphasizing the importance of clear communication and coordination between teammates. Looking ahead to the United States Grand Prix, they predict competitive performances from teams excelling at high-speed circuits.
A discussion ensues about Haas introducing a heavily modified car (B-spec) at the US Grand Prix, including full bodywork changes and side pod inlet modifications. The hosts express excitement about the potential impact of these modifications.
Transitioning to the United States Grand Prix preview, the hosts discuss the significance of the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas. They highlight the unique challenges posed by the high-speed track layout, making it an ideal testing ground for aerodynamic updates.
Several teams are expected to bring upgrades, particularly floor modifications, to assess their effectiveness in real-world conditions. Notably, the hosts mention the rumored "white Red Bull" incorporating design elements from various teams.
Drawing parallels between COTA and iconic tracks worldwide, such as Silverstone, Hockenheim, and Mexico City, the hosts emphasize the diversity of features for evaluating cars' performance. Molly shares the cultural significance of COTA for her, being a Texan, and highlights the vibrant atmosphere in Austin.
The episode concludes with an invitation for listeners to attend a Creators in Coffee event hosted by Dr. Obbs during the COTA weekend. The hosts encourage fans to gather, network, and celebrate the sport in a relaxed and friendly environment.
[00:00.000 -> 00:19.040] Welcome to the Breaking Bias Podcast.
[00:19.040 -> 00:27.400] My name is Dr. Obbs and I am joined today as always by my very excellent and amazing co-host, Molly.
[00:27.400 -> 00:28.560] How are you doing, Molly?
[00:28.560 -> 00:29.760] I'm doing good, Obbs.
[00:29.760 -> 00:30.600] How are you doing?
[00:30.600 -> 00:31.800] How are you feeling?
[00:31.800 -> 00:35.120] I'm still wearing a little bit of this kind of deeper
[00:35.120 -> 00:36.520] than normal voice.
[00:36.520 -> 00:38.560] So, you know, we can still churn out
[00:38.560 -> 00:42.520] some beautiful blues music later if we want to,
[00:42.520 -> 00:46.200] or we can just talk a motorsports and Formula One today.
[00:46.200 -> 00:49.320] We had quite an eventful weekend.
[00:49.320 -> 00:51.960] I think that would be a great starting point for us,
[00:51.960 -> 00:53.320] the Qatar GP.
[00:53.320 -> 00:54.240] I think so too.
[00:54.240 -> 00:55.480] Lots happened.
[00:55.480 -> 00:58.600] What were some initial thoughts from you on the weekend?
[00:58.600 -> 01:01.120] Oh man, I have so many thoughts.
[01:01.120 -> 01:02.560] I don't even know where to start
[01:02.560 -> 01:04.720] because there was so much that happened
[01:04.720 -> 01:09.440] between tire turmoil, extreme conditions for the drivers,
[01:09.440 -> 01:11.600] drama in a lot of the sessions.
[01:11.600 -> 01:13.680] Yeah, let's start with tire turmoil.
[01:13.680 -> 01:15.200] I think that's a good one.
[01:15.200 -> 01:19.680] So first of all, we'll start with the curbs, right?
[01:19.680 -> 01:24.640] So the low sales circuit is normally a MotoGP circuit.
[01:24.640 -> 01:26.760] So it's a bit different setup
[01:26.760 -> 01:29.040] than a typical kind of Formula One circuit.
[01:29.040 -> 01:30.720] Has a lot of runoff areas,
[01:30.720 -> 01:34.120] and for that reason, they had a very unique curb design
[01:34.120 -> 01:38.320] with sort of a pyramid shape that fell off really steeply
[01:38.320 -> 01:41.040] on the sort of the outward side of the track.
[01:41.040 -> 01:43.640] And this ended up being quite a problem
[01:43.640 -> 01:44.720] for the Pirelli tires.
[01:44.720 -> 01:45.960] Do you want to explain to everybody what was sort of the issue. And this ended up being quite a problem for the Pirelli tires. Do you want to explain to everybody
[01:45.960 -> 01:48.140] what was sort of the issue that was going on
[01:48.140 -> 01:51.160] with the Pirelli tires and maybe what was mandated by Pirelli?
[01:51.160 -> 01:51.960] Sure.
[01:51.960 -> 01:54.440] What I'll start with first is when tires are returned
[01:54.440 -> 01:56.200] at the end of a session, not only are teams
[01:56.200 -> 01:58.600] checking for wear, but Pirelli goes ahead
[01:58.600 -> 02:00.880] and inspects all of the tires across different depth
[02:00.880 -> 02:02.800] points for signs of wear.
[02:02.800 -> 02:04.720] They look for signs of damage, signs of graining.
[02:04.720 -> 02:06.020] And then there's a small sample
[02:06.020 -> 02:08.060] that actually is destructively sectioned.
[02:08.060 -> 02:09.940] And they will go in and look at the cross section
[02:09.940 -> 02:11.700] of the tire, what shape is the carcass in?
[02:11.700 -> 02:12.900] How's the sidewall look?
[02:12.900 -> 02:14.700] Is there any signs of delamination?
[02:14.700 -> 02:16.420] Is there something wrong with the compound?
[02:16.420 -> 02:17.940] And are they pleased with what they're seeing
[02:17.940 -> 02:20.420] in kind of this cross section of the inside of the tire?
[02:20.420 -> 02:25.000] What was happening due to the high oscillation events
[02:25.000 -> 02:27.580] that were in some of the curb sections,
[02:27.580 -> 02:29.400] which to me scream that's a lateral load
[02:29.400 -> 02:31.580] because those curbs are in the turns.
[02:31.580 -> 02:36.040] The sidewall was actually separating from the carcass
[02:36.040 -> 02:38.660] and the, what's the word I'm looking for?
[02:38.660 -> 02:41.100] It's the structured material
[02:41.100 -> 02:43.180] that's between the carcass and the compound.
[02:43.180 -> 02:44.020] The layup.
[02:44.020 -> 02:44.940] The layup.
[02:44.940 -> 02:45.760] I noticed something else
[02:45.760 -> 02:47.200] and I'm totally blanking on what it's called.
[02:47.200 -> 02:49.520] Basically, there's like another layer that's put in
[02:49.520 -> 02:51.320] to help keep the structure between the carcass
[02:51.320 -> 02:52.160] and the compound.
[02:52.160 -> 02:55.280] And the sidewall was separating from those two features.
[02:55.280 -> 02:57.500] And so basically between the compound,
[02:57.500 -> 02:59.640] this inner rigid structure piece and the carcass,
[02:59.640 -> 03:01.680] they noticed signs of the tire coming apart.
[03:01.680 -> 03:04.320] And so what they wound up mandating
[03:04.320 -> 03:06.660] after they did some studies Saturday
[03:06.660 -> 03:10.340] and the sprint was you could not exceed 18 laps
[03:10.340 -> 03:13.260] on your tires, but you could plus or minus
[03:13.260 -> 03:16.540] if you had in-laps, out-laps, if they were used.
[03:16.540 -> 03:19.160] So you could have, it was like 20 or 22 laps
[03:19.160 -> 03:22.000] on your tires, I think maximum after you did all of the math
[03:22.000 -> 03:25.240] which then kind of ultimately made the race a three-stop race.
[03:25.240 -> 03:27.240] Yeah, no, that's a great explanation.
[03:27.240 -> 03:31.640] And something that kind of tripped me up a little bit during the weekend was kind of the physics.
[03:31.640 -> 03:37.000] You were talking about, Molly, the fact that we have a lot of very high speed corners at LaSalle.
[03:37.000 -> 03:43.260] It's one of, I think it's maybe one of the average or the highest average speed tracks that we have, actually.
[03:43.260 -> 03:46.840] And I think it was turns 12, 13, 14.
[03:46.840 -> 03:49.020] These turns are incredibly high speed,
[03:49.020 -> 03:50.980] well over 200 kilometers an hour,
[03:50.980 -> 03:54.180] going through the corners in very high lateral Gs.
[03:54.180 -> 03:56.060] So it's kind of the combination
[03:56.060 -> 03:58.920] of these serrated sort of style curbs,
[03:58.920 -> 04:00.860] which induce a vibration,
[04:00.860 -> 04:04.520] the lateral load and this combined vibration load,
[04:04.520 -> 04:07.580] which was causing the separation event to occur.
[04:07.580 -> 04:09.460] Which is why then Pirelli had to mandate,
[04:09.460 -> 04:11.180] you know, and not only that,
[04:11.180 -> 04:13.900] but they also changed the track limits
[04:13.900 -> 04:15.860] at those particular corners,
[04:15.860 -> 04:18.660] so they would reduce the amount of time
[04:18.660 -> 04:21.420] that the tire had in sort of this oscillatory
[04:21.420 -> 04:22.380] kind of an event.
[04:22.380 -> 04:25.920] Yes, I was gonna say I forgot about that. But what when you
[04:25.920 -> 04:31.120] like dive into like the 5Y of this and kind of think about like, well, how did we get here?
[04:31.120 -> 04:35.600] It gets even more kind of fascinating. And yes, we hadn't been here in two years. Yes,
[04:35.600 -> 04:38.800] the last time we were here, the circuit was different with a different surface. But when
[04:38.800 -> 04:43.920] we were here last, there were left front failures when we were here last time. And then when we got
[04:43.920 -> 04:45.200] here this weekend,
[04:45.200 -> 04:50.640] there were some statements made that really kind of begged the question of, well, how are we back
[04:50.640 -> 04:56.960] in this situation? Because if you remember in 2021, Pirelli was unaware of the serrated curbs,
[04:56.960 -> 05:03.040] that the serrated curbs were a surprise. And then we got here this weekend and Mario Isla,
[05:03.040 -> 05:08.240] this isn't throwing shade at anybody, he made a comment to Ted that was like, well, we didn't really have time to inspect the track.
[05:08.240 -> 05:12.080] How as a tire supplier do you not have time to inspect the track?
[05:12.080 -> 05:15.640] Getting to talk with Firestone over an IndyCar, that is like one of the first things they
[05:15.640 -> 05:16.640] do that weekend.
[05:16.640 -> 05:21.400] They have like a little cart they push that measures mu across the entire track and takes
[05:21.400 -> 05:24.720] like scans of the track surface for them to go back, analyze.
[05:24.720 -> 05:26.740] It was shocking to kind of hear that.
[05:26.740 -> 05:31.120] And then there was some stuff said by other broadcasters that may purport that there was
[05:31.120 -> 05:35.880] a flag raised by Pirelli that they were concerned and weren't listened to.
[05:35.880 -> 05:41.800] And is how siloed are the suppliers from the series to the partners, to the teams?
[05:41.800 -> 05:50.240] It really begs a lot of questions of how did we wind up back in a situation with higher concerns here? Because if a concern was raised, or if they didn't have time to
[05:50.240 -> 05:55.280] walk the track, why? And why was that not communicated? Is there a vacuum? Because if
[05:55.280 -> 05:59.680] the serrated curb thing from 2021, if you go back to that, the fact that Pirelli wasn't notified
[05:59.680 -> 06:03.840] from the series or the track, there's some sort of communication breakdown happening in in kind
[06:03.840 -> 06:07.360] of all of these facets of the series. And so it's one of those like,
[06:07.360 -> 06:10.320] how are we back here again with these problems? I think just if you look at it
[06:10.320 -> 06:14.000] from a structural standpoint to outside of purely the tech, if you're like, well,
[06:14.000 -> 06:17.360] we have this problem, how are we back here again? You know, you would think that
[06:17.360 -> 06:19.440] we would have learned in the break that we had.
[06:19.440 -> 06:23.600] Yeah, that's a really good point, Molly. I'd also heard the similar rumblings
[06:23.600 -> 06:30.320] about the fact that Pirelli had raised some concerns, but you know, FOM, F1 didn't really want to listen. But you know,
[06:30.320 -> 06:35.280] who knows where the truth is? Maybe it's somewhere there in the middle. But you know, the other the
[06:35.280 -> 06:39.520] other variable from this weekend, and we talked about it on the last podcast as well, leading up
[06:39.520 -> 06:48.000] to the race is the fact that the track surface was resurfaced completely. So not only did we have, you know, the issues with the curbs and the high
[06:48.000 -> 06:52.720] vibrations in the corners, but we also had drivers really struggling for grip.
[06:52.720 -> 06:58.240] I mean, really struggling for grip. And it was sort of a combination of having
[06:58.240 -> 07:02.700] some dust and dirt out on the track because of the higher winds, but then
[07:02.700 -> 07:05.220] also the fact that it was a new surface.
[07:05.220 -> 07:07.040] You gave a great explanation.
[07:07.040 -> 07:09.700] If anybody has not listened to episode four yet,
[07:09.700 -> 07:10.600] go back, listen to it.
[07:10.600 -> 07:13.840] Molly talked a lot about green tracks and what that means,
[07:13.840 -> 07:15.940] and it was a very green track.
[07:15.940 -> 07:19.440] So it took quite a bit of time to rubber in.
[07:19.440 -> 07:20.600] I was just saying, I think it's important
[07:20.600 -> 07:24.380] to why the dust is a big factor because it is sand.
[07:24.380 -> 07:25.200] Sand works
[07:25.200 -> 07:30.640] like marbles. It actually reduces the friction across the surface. It can kind
[07:30.640 -> 07:33.840] of chew up tire but it kind of in the grand scheme of things when you put sand
[07:33.840 -> 07:37.520] over something like that and a fine dust it works like a little marble in a ball
[07:37.520 -> 07:41.880] and actually reduces your grip. That's why the dust was also a large
[07:41.880 -> 07:48.280] contributing factor to the low grip situation. Yeah it becomes kind of like a sliding surface that basically a relative sliding surface
[07:48.280 -> 07:50.880] in between the track and the tire compound.
[07:50.880 -> 07:55.920] But the other aspect of that that I was kind of thinking about was how could this have
[07:55.920 -> 07:58.200] been affecting the tire warm up?
[07:58.200 -> 08:03.120] You know, we did hear a lot of drivers complaining about that they weren't able to warm the tires
[08:03.120 -> 08:08.480] up to get them into the window. And I wonder, I mean, okay this is just my engineering brain working,
[08:08.480 -> 08:13.520] thinking how much could this have also been potentially related to the issues
[08:13.520 -> 08:17.520] that they were having with the tires. We definitely saw a lot of graining the
[08:17.520 -> 08:21.440] weekend. I mean if you saw the picture of the Ferrari tires after the sprint race
[08:21.440 -> 08:27.140] on the softs, they were incredibly grained. And so what that tells me is the surface temperatures
[08:27.140 -> 08:28.020] were getting very hot,
[08:28.020 -> 08:30.260] but the bulk temperatures of the tires were not.
[08:30.260 -> 08:32.940] That's typically what happens when you have a track
[08:32.940 -> 08:34.340] where you're struggling with grip
[08:34.340 -> 08:37.400] and you cannot get the bulk temperature up,
[08:37.400 -> 08:39.600] then that's something that has a tendency to happen.
[08:39.600 -> 08:42.860] Now, if you have kind of a lack of homogeneity
[08:42.860 -> 08:44.420] of temperature distribution
[08:44.420 -> 08:45.280] throughout the bulk of the tire, you're gonna of a lack of homogeneity of temperature distribution throughout the bulk
[08:45.280 -> 08:51.700] of the tire, you're going to get a relative displacement of the mechanical properties
[08:51.700 -> 08:53.200] of the rubber as well, right?
[08:53.200 -> 08:54.200] Okay, yeah.
[08:54.200 -> 08:57.640] Because as rubber heats up, it reacts differently, it moves differently, right?
[08:57.640 -> 09:01.200] That's the whole point why you want to heat up the tires, because they become softer and
[09:01.200 -> 09:02.600] tackier and grippier, right?
[09:02.600 -> 09:05.360] So through the bulk of the thickness of the tire,
[09:05.360 -> 09:06.960] if you have a temperature distribution
[09:06.960 -> 09:08.560] because you're struggling to heat them up,
[09:08.560 -> 09:11.080] could this have potentially contributed a little bit
[09:11.080 -> 09:13.600] to kind of those separation events that were happening,
[09:13.600 -> 09:14.440] right?
[09:14.440 -> 09:17.880] Where maybe the sidewall and then the upper surface itself,
[09:17.880 -> 09:19.480] where the tread is and everything,
[09:19.480 -> 09:21.480] and there's no tread, but the contact patch,
[09:21.480 -> 09:22.880] where the layup and everything is,
[09:22.880 -> 09:24.440] then at that point there,
[09:24.440 -> 09:27.300] could that kind of thermal sort of difference
[09:27.300 -> 09:28.140] have contributed to it?
[09:28.140 -> 09:28.960] I don't know.
[09:28.960 -> 09:31.280] I think that's a great kind of thread to pull.
[09:31.280 -> 09:32.800] And when you think about it that way,
[09:32.800 -> 09:35.300] I wonder if that really is something
[09:35.300 -> 09:36.680] that they could be struggling with too,
[09:36.680 -> 09:39.240] and the ambient temperature that they're racing in
[09:39.240 -> 09:42.480] is so high compared to what maybe they needed on their tire.
[09:42.480 -> 09:44.120] That was another aspect, right?
[09:44.120 -> 09:45.760] That came out of the weekend
[09:45.760 -> 09:47.760] was the increased ambient temperatures.
[09:47.760 -> 09:50.560] Frankly, I am very impressed
[09:50.560 -> 09:54.920] that we did not have DNFs related to PU overheating
[09:54.920 -> 09:56.220] or any of those kinds of things
[09:56.220 -> 09:58.320] that we spoke about on the last episode, right?
[09:58.320 -> 10:00.360] I agree, especially because
[10:00.360 -> 10:01.960] as I was listening to some of the radios,
[10:01.960 -> 10:04.780] there were a lot of drivers who were struggling
[10:04.780 -> 10:06.680] with some heat related issues
[10:06.680 -> 10:09.000] and trying to manage stuff accordingly,
[10:09.000 -> 10:10.200] which I think we can get into
[10:10.200 -> 10:11.760] when we talk about the race itself.
[10:11.760 -> 10:13.260] But I think also related to the heat,
[10:13.260 -> 10:14.820] we might as well talk about it
[10:14.820 -> 10:16.140] with the high ambient temperature,
[10:16.140 -> 10:18.420] the driver cooling and concerns
[10:18.420 -> 10:20.860] about the conditions that they raced in
[10:20.860 -> 10:22.760] and was it safe to do so?
[10:22.760 -> 10:24.600] I think that that's a big talking point
[10:24.600 -> 10:26.600] and the FIA has put out a statement
[10:26.600 -> 10:28.160] that they're gonna look into this
[10:28.160 -> 10:30.440] for further evaluation of scheduling
[10:30.440 -> 10:32.720] and how they can get air to the cockpit.
[10:32.720 -> 10:34.840] I agree that there are significant concerns around that
[10:34.840 -> 10:36.920] and this is maybe a hot take,
[10:36.920 -> 10:39.720] but well, why do you all care now all of a sudden?
[10:39.720 -> 10:40.840] Because it happened in F1.
[10:40.840 -> 10:42.880] It's great that you care now all of a sudden
[10:42.880 -> 10:48.480] about driver cooling and making sure that they are racing in safe temperatures. But it's like this has been a conversation
[10:48.480 -> 10:53.040] around motorsports for a really, really, really long time and other series. Get MotoGP when
[10:53.040 -> 10:57.200] they just raced in India, one of the podium finishers, Jorge Martin, looked like he was
[10:57.200 -> 11:02.920] about to just pass out as they were standing in park for me. Like this is not a new conversation.
[11:02.920 -> 11:05.620] And it will now everybody apparently cares because it happened in F1.
[11:05.620 -> 11:07.020] Okay, I see how it is.
[11:07.020 -> 11:10.860] Yeah, let's let's talk about that a little bit before we kind of get into sort of the
[11:10.860 -> 11:16.120] pace and the team's performance and things because I think it is a general sort of topic
[11:16.120 -> 11:20.300] from the race weekend that is, as you say, something that it's not like we haven't talked
[11:20.300 -> 11:21.740] about this before.
[11:21.740 -> 11:28.080] It's something that's discussed in IndyCar sometimes as well, right? Because you don't have as much of the driver cooling naturally.
[11:28.080 -> 11:29.760] Their cockpit is enclosed.
[11:29.760 -> 11:35.040] Exactly. But then, you know, they do have then sort of the cooling that comes into the helmets,
[11:35.040 -> 11:37.200] which, you know, may or may not help.
[11:37.200 -> 11:42.320] It's not mandatory. It's optional. I was going to get into that too, because I was going to ask,
[11:42.320 -> 11:49.160] what could we do from a tech standpoint? Because the FIA did say that they're gonna look into some options of how to improve cooling and
[11:49.160 -> 11:53.740] get airflow into the cockpit because I think we saw drivers putting their hands up to try
[11:53.740 -> 11:58.240] and get some air blowing at them to kind of disrupt the flow field as it was coming around
[11:58.240 -> 12:00.520] the halo to try and get some air at them.
[12:00.520 -> 12:07.020] Yeah, I mean, it's really like kind of a struggle between an aerodynamicist and sort of making
[12:07.020 -> 12:09.760] a car more comfortable to drive.
[12:09.760 -> 12:16.040] I mean, if you asked any car designer, whether it was an aero or a mechanical car designer,
[12:16.040 -> 12:20.000] what am I more concerned about making the car comfortable and fun to drive or really
[12:20.000 -> 12:21.000] fast?
[12:21.000 -> 12:22.520] It's really fast every time.
[12:22.520 -> 12:26.520] And one of the things that they want to do is naturally
[12:26.520 -> 12:32.800] kind of reduce the disruption of the air that's coming into the cockpit because it ends up
[12:32.800 -> 12:39.160] being one of the most lossy portions of the car. So they're naturally trying to do everything
[12:39.160 -> 12:45.040] they can to try to make that as sort of streamlined a part of the car as possible. And so you
[12:45.040 -> 12:48.660] don't necessarily want a whole bunch of air and wind rushing into this portion
[12:48.660 -> 12:53.200] of the car and it ends up cooling and transferring heat from from the driver.
[12:53.200 -> 12:56.400] It just sort of the driver needs to be a part of the car and that just kind of
[12:56.400 -> 13:00.320] flows over the whole car itself. So there's an argument there about how they
[13:00.320 -> 13:04.880] can improve that. I think the other aspect that maybe the casual fan, you
[13:04.880 -> 13:07.040] know, maybe not somebody into the tech details,
[13:07.040 -> 13:10.180] might not fully understand is just the amount of heat
[13:10.180 -> 13:12.320] that's coming out of the engines
[13:12.320 -> 13:16.880] that literally the drivers are sitting right in front of.
[13:16.880 -> 13:20.640] So it's not only just the ambient temperature,
[13:20.640 -> 13:23.680] but how good a job teams do in insulating the driver
[13:23.680 -> 13:24.500] from that heat.
[13:24.500 -> 13:28.080] I mean, Fernando Alonso was talking about his bone was like on fire, right?
[13:28.080 -> 13:29.800] Because he said something was burning.
[13:29.800 -> 13:35.160] So yeah, as somebody who's been in a cockpit with an engine right behind her, I can personally
[13:35.160 -> 13:36.560] attest to that too.
[13:36.560 -> 13:40.740] When I did my IndyCar two seater, where you sit in the two seater is actually very much
[13:40.740 -> 13:44.320] like a driver sits with the engine right behind you where you sit behind the driver.
[13:44.320 -> 13:49.280] And I was already dying in my fire suit and my balaclava and my full gear.
[13:49.280 -> 13:53.440] Then I climbed to the cockpit and I've got the warm engine behind me.
[13:53.440 -> 13:57.760] It just multiplied onto the heat that I was already like, wow, this is really hot.
[13:57.760 -> 14:01.000] That's where I saw a really good tweet and I had said something similar.
[14:01.000 -> 14:10.100] Joseph Newgarden, IndyCarD, tweeted it about how measuring their cockpit temperature and driver temperature during an event would actually be really valuable
[14:10.100 -> 14:13.820] benchmarking data. And I think that would be really good to help understand because
[14:13.820 -> 14:17.940] they do it in IndyCar. They'll stick a little thermometer in the cockpit down in the tub
[14:17.940 -> 14:21.780] for them to keep an eye on and monitor. They do the same in NASCAR. And then some drivers
[14:21.780 -> 14:29.000] have actually swallowed the monitoring pill where it feeds data for the race, then data dumps onto a receiver in NASCAR, sports
[14:29.000 -> 14:34.000] cars and IndyCar to help understand the human performance and what their body is going through
[14:34.000 -> 14:37.280] and what they're experiencing in the cockpit. And I'm not aware of that ever being done
[14:37.280 -> 14:42.320] in Formula One. So I think trying to get some data there, it would be really good. And it
[14:42.320 -> 14:46.400] for a good reference, I mean, when NASCAR does that, they pretty much every race at this point
[14:46.400 -> 14:49.640] have a thermometer stuck on certain drivers' seats
[14:49.640 -> 14:52.260] so you can see what the cockpit is experiencing
[14:52.260 -> 14:53.600] and what they're feeling in their seat.
[14:53.600 -> 14:55.600] And I mean, we've seen cockpit temperatures
[14:55.600 -> 14:58.760] as high as 150 degrees Celsius, if not higher,
[14:58.760 -> 15:02.280] in at least the enclosed cockpit on NASCAR and sports cars.
[15:02.280 -> 15:04.760] And so I think that that's something
[15:04.760 -> 15:05.680] that they need to understand.
[15:05.680 -> 15:09.600] And the fact, like I said, I'm pretty well versed in this, and I'm not aware of them ever studying
[15:09.600 -> 15:14.960] driver internal core temperature or cockpit temperature in a live race environment under
[15:14.960 -> 15:18.960] any circumstances in Formula One with all of their biometric monitoring and everything they do,
[15:18.960 -> 15:26.000] which is really surprising. You're 100% right. I mean, they monitor in other sports, they monitor the athletes, right?
[15:26.000 -> 15:31.560] They monitor, you know, in American football, they monitor, you know, G forces and contact
[15:31.560 -> 15:35.180] for heavy collisions where somebody might have a concussion. I mean, I know they're
[15:35.180 -> 15:40.520] doing those kinds of things for G forces during collisions for race drivers. Why not like
[15:40.520 -> 15:44.000] driver core temperatures or something like that? That's a good point.
[15:44.000 -> 15:45.960] Those things are like we're doing some things,
[15:45.960 -> 15:47.360] but if you look at what's out there,
[15:47.360 -> 15:49.400] why is some of this stuff not being analyzed?
[15:49.400 -> 15:51.420] And that's you also are starting to see a popularity
[15:51.420 -> 15:53.680] of drivers in other series wearing the whoop bands
[15:53.680 -> 15:54.820] to help understand that too,
[15:54.820 -> 15:57.160] if they don't want to do like the pill
[15:57.160 -> 15:58.560] or they don't wanna do certain things.
[15:58.560 -> 15:59.960] To monitor, they'll wear the whoop band
[15:59.960 -> 16:01.600] and that'll also tell them a lot as well.
[16:01.600 -> 16:03.240] But obviously with the FIAs,
[16:03.240 -> 16:05.560] anti wearing things in the race car,
[16:05.560 -> 16:07.240] that's a little bit easier said than done.
[16:07.240 -> 16:09.160] But as for what could be done
[16:09.160 -> 16:10.740] from a tech and aero standpoint,
[16:10.740 -> 16:12.240] my favorite question to ask somebody is like,
[16:12.240 -> 16:14.160] if you're the chief, what are you saying?
[16:14.160 -> 16:17.360] I said, I'm in charge of solving this issue at the FIA.
[16:17.360 -> 16:19.040] Here are like the three things I would start with
[16:19.040 -> 16:20.180] from a techie standpoint.
[16:20.180 -> 16:21.820] The first, and you're gonna hate me
[16:21.820 -> 16:23.520] because it is an aero device,
[16:23.520 -> 16:25.680] is actually the cockpit scoop in IndyCar.
[16:25.680 -> 16:27.120] Are you familiar with that?
[16:27.120 -> 16:28.240] Um, no.
[16:28.240 -> 16:35.360] Okay, IndyCar due to concerns about driver cooling actually has mandated a feature that gets added
[16:35.360 -> 16:38.800] onto the Aero screens like some guys call the cockpit scoop an Aero screen scoop. I'm going
[16:38.800 -> 16:42.720] to show you a picture. We'll tweet this picture out. Hopefully you can see my phone screen,
[16:42.720 -> 16:44.320] but that's what it looks like.
[16:44.320 -> 16:45.640] Oh yeah, okay.
[16:45.640 -> 16:49.920] And it's mandatory when IndyCar says you have to put it on.
[16:49.920 -> 16:51.400] There are a couple of different designs.
[16:51.400 -> 16:53.680] I actually have a picture of another one I can show you,
[16:53.680 -> 16:55.660] but IndyCar mandate,
[16:55.660 -> 16:59.640] this has to be put on in certain ambient temperature races.
[16:59.640 -> 17:01.860] And what it does is it collects air
[17:01.860 -> 17:04.280] that is being pushed away from the aero screen
[17:04.280 -> 17:05.440] in the cockpit because the aero screen in the cockpit because
[17:05.440 -> 17:10.360] the aero screen is literally a halo with impact proof glass over it and directs that air down
[17:10.360 -> 17:16.640] over the driver's head and their torso within the cockpit. And so my thought there is, yeah,
[17:16.640 -> 17:21.920] it sucks from a cockpit loss standpoint, but it would be very, very easy to take something
[17:21.920 -> 17:25.620] already out there that integrates over a halo-like type device
[17:25.620 -> 17:29.820] and use that as a way to get airflow into the cockpit
[17:29.820 -> 17:30.680] and around the driver.
[17:30.680 -> 17:32.540] And the way that I would see that implemented
[17:32.540 -> 17:34.540] is just like the headrest material
[17:34.540 -> 17:37.560] where the FIA says, hey, it's gotta be blue today.
[17:37.560 -> 17:39.500] It's gotta be pink because of the temperature.
[17:39.500 -> 17:41.600] So they can say, hey, ambient temperature is this.
[17:41.600 -> 17:44.340] You all have to run a halo scoop feature
[17:44.340 -> 17:48.840] for airflow into the cockpit. I think that's kind of like the simplest in terms of like, if you wanted to just say, hey, ambient temperature is this, you all have to run a halo scoop feature for airflow into the cockpit. I think that's kind of like the simplest in terms of like, if you wanted
[17:48.840 -> 17:52.800] to just say, hey, a similar products already out there, let's pop that on. And I think
[17:52.800 -> 17:57.160] that's like a quick, easy solution already, which it makes a big difference in IndyCart
[17:57.160 -> 18:00.480] for the drivers. It's helped, it's been in place a couple years now. And it used to be
[18:00.480 -> 18:05.600] optional. They just started making it mandatory. The second one, and this is one
[18:05.600 -> 18:10.960] that I'm sure people will be mad about me even suggesting, is that cool suits under similar
[18:10.960 -> 18:14.880] mandatory rules, which is if you're not familiar with, are you familiar with cool suit?
[18:14.880 -> 18:19.440] Yes. For our listeners who aren't, the cool suit is, it's like a Nomex shirt, like the drivers
[18:19.440 -> 18:22.720] would wear underneath their fire suits. It's fireproof. But what it has is all of these
[18:22.720 -> 18:27.100] ancillaries that look like veins that run around it. And then when they zip their fire suits. It's fireproof but what it has is all of these ancillaries that look like veins that run around it and then when they zip their fire suit up
[18:27.100 -> 18:30.180] there's like a hose coming out of their hip and then that hooks up into the race
[18:30.180 -> 18:34.020] car and that flows cool water across their torso for the entire duration of
[18:34.020 -> 18:37.860] the race and so that helps keep them cool. This is really popular in IndyCar,
[18:37.860 -> 18:41.780] NASCAR, and sports cars. That's obviously added weight, added features, it's not
[18:41.780 -> 18:47.580] mandatory, it's optional, the guys that want run it, run it. The third one, you were talking about it,
[18:47.580 -> 18:49.900] Obvs, with like the hose that connects to the helmets.
[18:49.900 -> 18:51.260] That's also getting really popular.
[18:51.260 -> 18:53.700] So IndyCar, a lot of the guys are putting it on their chin
[18:53.700 -> 18:55.940] or their head, NASCAR and sports cars.
[18:55.940 -> 18:58.400] It is up on their head usually.
[18:58.400 -> 19:00.520] It's an air conditioning system in the car.
[19:00.520 -> 19:02.560] And what some of the cars do do
[19:02.560 -> 19:04.860] rather than it being like a separate box
[19:04.860 -> 19:07.100] or a separate unit is they'll take air flow that they're already directing in through features of the cars do do rather than it being like a separate box or a separate unit is they'll take airflow that
[19:07.100 -> 19:11.360] they're already directing in through features of the car and part of it goes to where they want it.
[19:11.360 -> 19:15.220] The other part diverts into the cooler, it gets cooled and then is up into the driver.
[19:15.220 -> 19:17.380] So that's also one of those. It's added mass,
[19:17.380 -> 19:22.760] it's you have to mandate it and all of that and it's a totally different change to the helmet in a series where the helmet
[19:22.760 -> 19:24.580] is exposed. That one's
[19:24.580 -> 19:27.200] probably not as easy, but those are kind of like my three of
[19:27.200 -> 19:31.000] like what they could do because I don't see them putting like a rider hump on
[19:31.000 -> 19:34.380] the suits like they do in MotoGP because the rider hump is for airflow through
[19:34.380 -> 19:37.560] the leathers. So those are kind of like the three that I'm like, hey these are
[19:37.560 -> 19:42.040] out there, this would be really easy to do as like a solutions standpoint of to
[19:42.040 -> 19:48.800] what they can do because I've seen a lot of people saying, well let's use aerogelsels. Let's do this. Let's do that and get really complicated with it. I'm like,
[19:48.800 -> 19:54.800] there's already solutions out there that work really, really well for other theories or why
[19:54.800 -> 19:59.040] are they not in that? I mean, maybe they are investigating that, but as I think we've seen
[19:59.040 -> 20:03.120] and we've learned, racing kind of operates in a vacuum. They don't necessarily go see what others
[20:03.120 -> 20:09.600] are doing to try and make themselves better. So I think it'll be interesting to see what they do pursue
[20:09.600 -> 20:14.240] to solve this problem because it was very scary to see. And I mean, it's like I said before,
[20:14.240 -> 20:18.480] it happens in their series all the time. Like you see guys get out of sports cars and NASCAR and
[20:18.480 -> 20:25.220] MotoGP and they're like sitting on pit road before they can even try and get to the medical center and being attended to.
[20:25.220 -> 20:26.220] It's not uncommon.
[20:26.220 -> 20:27.220] Yeah.
[20:27.220 -> 20:30.140] And those are great suggestions.
[20:30.140 -> 20:35.220] And that's the thing that I really admire about what you just explained there, Molly,
[20:35.220 -> 20:40.980] is not only just complaining about, hey, this is a bad thing or saying this is a bad thing,
[20:40.980 -> 20:43.180] but offering up potential solutions.
[20:43.180 -> 20:44.960] And I think that's fantastic.
[20:44.960 -> 20:47.900] That just shows that there are things that can be implemented, as you said, that are
[20:47.900 -> 20:49.580] readily available.
[20:49.580 -> 20:54.040] And the other thing that I think makes this sort of situation even more amplified was
[20:54.040 -> 20:59.040] the fact that because Pirelli had mandated that 18 laps on the tire, it, you know, to
[20:59.040 -> 21:04.760] end it up turning into basically a three-stop race, which means that you were never really
[21:04.760 -> 21:06.400] fully taking the life
[21:06.400 -> 21:09.040] out of each one of the compounds of the tire.
[21:09.040 -> 21:12.720] So the drivers were effectively doing like quali laps
[21:12.720 -> 21:14.280] every single lap.
[21:14.280 -> 21:17.200] If you looked at the pole lap and their lap times,
[21:17.200 -> 21:19.600] they were running on those then pretty darn close
[21:19.600 -> 21:20.680] to the fastest quali lap.
[21:20.680 -> 21:23.440] The pace was insane from a pace standpoint
[21:23.440 -> 21:25.800] because we didn't have that kind of concern
[21:25.800 -> 21:26.960] of I need to save my tires.
[21:26.960 -> 21:28.960] I just know like I have an 18 lap life
[21:28.960 -> 21:31.120] or whatever the math was for this set, go.
[21:31.120 -> 21:33.560] Which means that the stress on the body's higher,
[21:33.560 -> 21:36.440] you know, in an already kind of a temperature
[21:36.440 -> 21:40.000] exacerbated environment where now your body
[21:40.000 -> 21:42.360] is in a very hot sauna.
[21:42.360 -> 21:45.620] And on top of that, you're pulling way more Gs
[21:45.620 -> 21:49.240] cumulatively over a race than you would normally.
[21:49.240 -> 21:52.520] So your muscles are having to tense
[21:52.520 -> 21:55.380] to keep you from actually like tilting your head
[21:55.380 -> 21:57.080] over the side of the car.
[21:57.080 -> 22:00.800] So, and your core is basically staying constricted as well
[22:00.800 -> 22:02.080] and tensed up.
[22:02.080 -> 22:05.120] So literally you're working out in a sauna.
[22:05.120 -> 22:10.720] Yeah. And when Lance was talking about how he was losing consciousness in the high speed,
[22:10.720 -> 22:16.800] or he felt like he was losing his vision in the high speed, I went, wow, he's G locking in the car,
[22:16.800 -> 22:22.000] which is I'm sure you know what G locking is, but it's basically G induced loss of consciousness.
[22:22.000 -> 22:29.900] And it's really, really, really common in pilots of fighter jets. And it's where the acceleration of forces on the body puts it
[22:29.900 -> 22:36.100] in a situation where you're unable to get oxygen into the blood and support consciousness,
[22:36.100 -> 22:39.800] basically, at that point. And so you'll you'll pass out and then come to it's when like you
[22:39.800 -> 22:43.660] see people go up in the trip planes for the first time, or with like the Blue Angels,
[22:43.660 -> 22:45.240] and they and they wind up passing out
[22:45.240 -> 22:46.840] when they're in that seat, that's a G-lock
[22:46.840 -> 22:49.060] and there's a specific breathing technique you do
[22:49.060 -> 22:50.800] and all of that to help prevent it.
[22:50.800 -> 22:53.880] I was like, man, Lance is G-locking
[22:53.880 -> 22:56.360] from like when he was talking about, which was crazy.
[22:56.360 -> 23:00.680] No, really, I mean, I drove an F4 car once
[23:00.680 -> 23:03.040] and because my wife was kind enough
[23:03.040 -> 23:05.680] to get me a driving experience. That's awesome.
[23:05.680 -> 23:13.840] Yeah, and that was a lot of fun, but I'll tell you what, I did 15 laps in it and I was pushing
[23:13.840 -> 23:18.880] like on the last three laps, I was building up every lap and then the last three laps I was like
[23:18.880 -> 23:27.520] throwing it into corners. And granted, I'm not even experiencing like 20% of, or 10% maybe of the G-forces that
[23:27.520 -> 23:29.560] these guys are experiencing.
[23:29.560 -> 23:31.120] And I was physically ill.
[23:31.120 -> 23:32.120] Oh my god.
[23:32.120 -> 23:37.360] Like I was, I actually got physically ill because I wasn't trained, you know, like I
[23:37.360 -> 23:38.920] hadn't been training my body.
[23:38.920 -> 23:44.000] And feeling those G-forces in the corners and like the blood rushing out of my brain,
[23:44.000 -> 23:45.920] you know, in those corners.
[23:45.920 -> 23:46.920] So I get it.
[23:46.920 -> 23:51.480] I cannot imagine how these guys must have been feeling.
[23:51.480 -> 23:54.560] I mean, an incredibly dangerous situation.
[23:54.560 -> 23:58.280] And I'm glad we had a good chance to talk about that now.
[23:58.280 -> 24:03.240] And I think to echo your experience in the F4 car, my two-seater ride, I knew what to
[24:03.240 -> 24:04.240] do with my breathing.
[24:04.240 -> 24:09.280] I kind of knew what to expect with the Gs and pulling Gs and was like, okay, I know that I'm going
[24:09.280 -> 24:10.680] to want to brace my core.
[24:10.680 -> 24:14.240] I'm going to want to do this because they teach you with certain hot laps too that you
[24:14.240 -> 24:15.240] get to do.
[24:15.240 -> 24:18.120] I've done enough hot laps that you want to brace your core so you don't get tossed around
[24:18.120 -> 24:19.120] in the passenger seat.
[24:19.120 -> 24:21.840] I knew what I was getting into.
[24:21.840 -> 24:24.160] I didn't know when I got out of the car.
[24:24.160 -> 24:25.520] I hopped up out of the car right away.
[24:25.520 -> 24:27.600] I was really fine, excited, all of that.
[24:27.600 -> 24:29.600] The guys were like, whoa, whoa, whoa, be careful.
[24:29.600 -> 24:30.600] A lot of people get dizzy.
[24:30.600 -> 24:32.640] I was like, I'm fine.
[24:32.640 -> 24:33.640] I feel great.
[24:33.640 -> 24:34.880] There's a video.
[24:34.880 -> 24:35.880] It's hilarious.
[24:35.880 -> 24:36.880] I had to post it.
[24:36.880 -> 24:41.600] I wasn't going to, but I'm standing off to the side filming a TikTok after my hot lap
[24:41.600 -> 24:46.220] and you can just see me realize that I was getting close to passing out because
[24:46.220 -> 24:47.220] I got really dizzy.
[24:47.220 -> 24:50.860] I'd been out of the car maybe two minutes and you see it on my face.
[24:50.860 -> 24:55.160] I'm like, I might be going down from pulling the Gs too because even I had a good idea
[24:55.160 -> 24:56.160] of what to do.
[24:56.160 -> 25:00.280] I'm not conditioned to that and I don't do that regularly and it was, oh, I might go
[25:00.280 -> 25:01.280] down.
[25:01.280 -> 25:06.840] I just hung out for a couple minutes around a few people until I felt better. But I mean, you don't mess around with that.
[25:06.840 -> 25:09.120] I had to sit in my car for 30 minutes
[25:09.120 -> 25:11.220] before I drove back home because I was like,
[25:11.220 -> 25:13.120] literally I felt like I was gonna pass out.
[25:13.120 -> 25:16.320] I mean, I just was sitting there just trying to breathe
[25:16.320 -> 25:18.200] because yeah, it's crazy.
[25:18.200 -> 25:19.440] But yeah, you can't.
[25:19.440 -> 25:20.280] No.
[25:20.280 -> 25:23.200] So let's talk a little bit about kind of performance
[25:23.200 -> 25:24.360] from the race weekend.
[25:24.360 -> 25:28.560] I think, you know, let's start with qualifying, which occurred on a Friday.
[25:28.560 -> 25:34.060] Teams only got one free practice to really nail the setup, dial the car in, you know,
[25:34.060 -> 25:41.060] and that was a really sketchy FP1 with a slick track with dust on it and everything.
[25:41.060 -> 25:44.080] So it was very difficult for drivers to get the car dialed in.
[25:44.080 -> 25:47.680] But Mercedes had a very strong qualifying performance.
[25:47.680 -> 25:48.160] They did.
[25:48.160 -> 25:51.920] You know, qualifying P2, P3, which unfortunately ended up being their
[25:51.920 -> 25:56.840] undoing during the race. But, you know, of course, Max put it on pull, I guess,
[25:56.840 -> 26:00.680] as we, you know, a lot of us were kind of assuming what happened. But I guess
[26:00.680 -> 26:07.260] surprising or not surprising from your side, Molly, that Mercedes was so quick on one lap pace during qualifying?
[26:07.300 -> 26:08.300] Not surprising.
[26:08.300 -> 26:12.960] Seems like they, similar to Ferrari, either have it in the race pace
[26:12.960 -> 26:16.480] or they have it on one lap with their setups and with what they're prioritizing.
[26:16.480 -> 26:20.400] And I think with the weekend, I think they knew track position
[26:20.400 -> 26:21.980] was going to be really, really critical.
[26:21.980 -> 26:26.180] So prioritizing one lap pace was likely the priority in my opinion,
[26:26.600 -> 26:29.480] from a qualifying and set of standpoint for the weekend,
[26:29.480 -> 26:34.080] especially with the sprint, they they likely prioritized that pace,
[26:34.080 -> 26:38.020] that one lap run pace versus a long run car, which is a tradeoff
[26:38.020 -> 26:40.420] that you have to make during a weekend of how you're going to trim
[26:40.420 -> 26:41.620] your car out in your setups.
[26:41.620 -> 26:46.940] Yeah. And I mean, the track being, I guess, similar-ish to Suzuka,
[26:46.940 -> 26:50.660] I guess from my side, I thought in qualifying
[26:50.660 -> 26:53.540] that the McLaren boys would be up there.
[26:53.540 -> 26:55.220] Now, granted, they were,
[26:55.220 -> 26:57.540] they had laps deleted, unfortunately,
[26:57.540 -> 27:00.740] so, you know, they would have been in front there.
[27:00.740 -> 27:05.420] So I guess, it maybe shook out about as it should have. If you take
[27:05.420 -> 27:09.940] track limits out of the equation. Exactly. And drivers really weren't gaining much
[27:09.940 -> 27:14.020] with the track limits. I think you know the data analysts and the telemetry guys
[27:14.020 -> 27:17.780] were saying that nobody was really gaining much by just a small amount of
[27:17.780 -> 27:20.540] track limit that there were out there. But at the end of the day I think
[27:20.540 -> 27:30.040] Mercedes does have a very strong package. again I think McLaren is probably the second best team on the grid at the moment. Yeah, and then Ferrari's kind of
[27:30.840 -> 27:32.840] bouncing somewhere
[27:33.080 -> 27:38.920] Between here and there depending on the weekend. So the sprint shootout, you know was dominated by McLaren
[27:38.920 -> 27:44.680] So the McLaren boys kept it in between the lines and beat out max. I mean people wouldn't be too right
[27:44.680 -> 27:47.040] It was it was pretty phenomenal for
[27:47.040 -> 27:51.920] them. What are some of your thoughts on McLaren and McLaren Space? I mean, we've talked about them
[27:51.920 -> 27:57.680] for quite a bit of time, but they just from track to track, it just, it keeps translating. I mean,
[27:57.680 -> 28:03.400] what's happening? I mean, they have put together a package and I think that their technical
[28:03.400 -> 28:11.240] turnaround and the structural changes that they have made at the team are really coming to fruition and are really showing
[28:11.240 -> 28:15.400] why Zach Brown did that and said, hey, we've got to make some changes.
[28:15.400 -> 28:20.020] I think that they are reaping the rewards of some new technical leadership and some
[28:20.020 -> 28:23.320] new brains and some fresh eyes on the car.
[28:23.320 -> 28:25.440] I think now also, we've talked about this previously,
[28:25.440 -> 28:30.480] the wind tunnel aspect for next season is going to be huge as well with having that capability.
[28:30.480 -> 28:35.600] I think Andrea Stahl is a very composed man. They asked him how it was going and he goes,
[28:35.600 -> 28:40.320] it's going good. And I'm like, they're having significant gains and learnings and things are
[28:40.320 -> 28:45.440] looking very good if that's how he is. I think that there's a lot of things
[28:45.440 -> 28:49.640] coming together in the way that they hoped. I know that's a very non-answer, but I think
[28:49.640 -> 28:54.600] that we've talked about this so many times that they just seem to really have gotten
[28:54.600 -> 28:58.720] this understanding of the car and understood its setups and its windows. I think they're
[28:58.720 -> 29:04.040] still learning, but I think that they really have figured out a good combination of floor
[29:04.040 -> 29:06.300] to above- body downforce generation
[29:06.300 -> 29:09.780] to wake management and in wash and out wash
[29:09.780 -> 29:10.620] where they want it.
[29:10.620 -> 29:13.100] And I think that they just have a really balanced setup now
[29:13.100 -> 29:14.460] where in the past they haven't.
[29:14.460 -> 29:17.260] Yeah, and you know, they've gone from being,
[29:17.260 -> 29:20.600] I think it was our friend Mirko F Data Analysis
[29:20.600 -> 29:23.440] calling them at one point the world's fastest brick
[29:23.440 -> 29:26.600] to being now a pretty relatively
[29:26.600 -> 29:28.700] aero-efficient car.
[29:28.700 -> 29:29.700] That's not easy to do.
[29:29.700 -> 29:34.880] I mean, because basically what you're doing is you're shedding drag without shedding downforce.
[29:34.880 -> 29:36.880] And that's not easy to do.
[29:36.880 -> 29:39.560] I mean, to find efficiency gains is difficult.
[29:39.560 -> 29:44.320] So you know, props to McLaren on, again, all the work that they've done there.
[29:44.320 -> 29:47.600] Hats off to friend of the pod, Mike Law as well
[29:47.600 -> 29:49.440] in the vehicle dynamics team for that.
[29:49.440 -> 29:51.320] Absolutely, yeah, getting some due
[29:51.320 -> 29:53.080] for all the great work that they've been doing,
[29:53.080 -> 29:56.040] but let's give some due to the McLaren pit team.
[29:56.040 -> 29:56.880] Oh my gosh.
[29:56.880 -> 29:58.520] As well, 1.8 seconds Molly.
[29:58.520 -> 29:59.360] The fastest ever.
[29:59.360 -> 30:00.920] What did you think about that?
[30:00.920 -> 30:02.620] I am so excited about that
[30:02.620 -> 30:06.560] and I need every angle of the replay available.
[30:06.560 -> 30:10.100] The official channels only have the Lando on board.
[30:10.100 -> 30:11.740] I want the above shot.
[30:11.740 -> 30:13.460] I want somebody looking at it shot.
[30:13.460 -> 30:15.700] I've seen a couple of things going on in social media,
[30:15.700 -> 30:17.340] but I want also more views of it
[30:17.340 -> 30:20.060] because that thing was a thing of beauty
[30:20.060 -> 30:22.400] from what I've seen in all the angles.
[30:22.400 -> 30:24.980] And it was absolutely flawless.
[30:24.980 -> 30:26.760] There's a video, whereas Lando peels out,
[30:26.760 -> 30:29.520] one of the Alfa Romeo guys is like swinging his hand,
[30:29.520 -> 30:30.680] like, woo!
[30:30.680 -> 30:33.600] Like it was so perfectly executed
[30:33.600 -> 30:36.540] and just speaks to the practice that goes into this
[30:36.540 -> 30:38.600] and all of the work and all of the choreography
[30:38.600 -> 30:39.960] and all of the analysis.
[30:39.960 -> 30:42.120] Because I don't think a lot of people understand
[30:42.120 -> 30:44.300] how analyzed Pitstops are too.
[30:44.300 -> 30:45.800] And I hope that that's something we can discuss in the
[30:45.800 -> 30:50.520] future, but that film is watched back on loop at least in the NASCAR world.
[30:50.520 -> 30:55.440] And this is a question I would love to get answered by somebody from a crew is in the NASCAR world
[30:55.440 -> 30:59.960] there's actually somebody back in the war room that isn't on the track week to week that is literally with a stopwatch
[31:00.440 -> 31:07.660] timing certain parts of the stop or somebody will time just one certain piece of it and go, oh, right front was slow, left front slow, and they'll continue to replay
[31:07.660 -> 31:11.560] that and the crew will continue to replay that actually on the pit stand.
[31:11.560 -> 31:15.120] I was standing behind a pit box, Fueller had a bad stop and he's like, they were like,
[31:15.120 -> 31:16.800] yeah, just this is what you'll do on the next one.
[31:16.800 -> 31:18.560] And they were like talking through it in real time.
[31:18.560 -> 31:22.640] And so I'm really curious to see if F1 does that too, but it just says all of the work
[31:22.640 -> 31:29.160] that goes into pit preparation and what all of the practice and it's muscle memory at that point too and all the hard
[31:29.160 -> 31:34.600] work that they've put in to have a stop that's that fast and beat the 1.82 second one that
[31:34.600 -> 31:37.240] Red Bull did that we thought was impossible to beat.
[31:37.240 -> 31:38.240] Yeah, it's incredible.
[31:38.240 -> 31:44.420] I mean, watching it live, you know, when I saw it happen, it just it was so smooth and
[31:44.420 -> 31:45.840] you knew it was so fast.
[31:45.840 -> 31:48.920] I mean, it didn't resonate with me just kind of like
[31:48.920 -> 31:52.300] immediately that, wow, okay, that beat the Red Bull record.
[31:52.300 -> 31:54.540] But it wasn't a surprise then later
[31:54.540 -> 31:57.340] when then it flashed on the screen and I was like,
[31:57.340 -> 32:01.800] holy cow, 1.80, like that's amazing.
[32:01.800 -> 32:04.580] And credit to Lando as well, I mean,
[32:04.580 -> 32:07.000] because driver is as much a big part of that
[32:07.000 -> 32:08.760] as anything.
[32:08.760 -> 32:10.600] Driver's got to hit the marks.
[32:10.600 -> 32:12.920] And if the tire guys don't have to move
[32:12.920 -> 32:15.680] because driver has nailed the marks,
[32:15.680 -> 32:18.720] that means you get the gun on the nut much quicker, right?
[32:18.720 -> 32:21.240] Than if you have to kind of adjust and orient
[32:21.240 -> 32:22.680] because driver missed their marks.
[32:22.680 -> 32:24.400] Yeah, and if you ever hear for anybody
[32:24.400 -> 32:26.280] that's ever listening to like a radio or a driver
[32:26.280 -> 32:29.720] when they're like debriefing when they get asked by media, if they say, Oh, I stopped
[32:29.720 -> 32:33.920] a little short, or Hey, you stopped short there, that means they are behind the mark.
[32:33.920 -> 32:38.400] So they are not as deep in the box as they should, or Hey, you stopped a little long,
[32:38.400 -> 32:40.360] that actually means they're too far forward.
[32:40.360 -> 32:46.400] And if you ever get a chance to actually experience a pit road in any series, walk the pit boxes
[32:46.400 -> 32:49.900] and look at the marks that are taped down, that the teams put down.
[32:49.900 -> 32:51.600] There's reference lines for the drivers.
[32:51.600 -> 32:53.580] There's reference lines for the pit crew.
[32:53.580 -> 32:57.420] There's all of these things in the pit box outside of just where the car is going to
[32:57.420 -> 32:59.280] come to help a stop.
[32:59.280 -> 33:02.980] And so if you ever get a chance to experience that, I would highly advise paying attention
[33:02.980 -> 33:05.200] to kind of the pavement in each pit box
[33:05.200 -> 33:09.360] too as you experience that because that's for the driver to use as reference as well.
[33:09.360 -> 33:17.120] Yeah. And it 100% matters because I mean, a good example is the fact that Max was quite a bit ahead.
[33:17.120 -> 33:22.560] The McLaren boys pitted before Max. Max went a little long on his hards. I think he ended up
[33:22.560 -> 33:25.040] doing about only six laps on his mediums
[33:25.040 -> 33:31.480] by the time he had pit. But Max's stop was a little bit slower. I mean slower by Red Bull
[33:31.480 -> 33:36.640] standards. Yeah, I would agree. Yeah, it was a slow stop for them compared to literally
[33:36.640 -> 33:43.280] Piastri and Norris' stops being lightning fast. And by the time that Verstappen came back out,
[33:43.280 -> 33:46.680] the McLaren boys were like three seconds on the back
[33:46.680 -> 33:49.040] of Verstappen, so it matters.
[33:49.040 -> 33:49.880] It matters a lot.
[33:49.880 -> 33:50.700] It does.
[33:50.700 -> 33:53.940] And that's with an RB19 that's got some pace.
[33:53.940 -> 33:58.940] So imagine if next year we've got a very racy McLaren,
[33:59.680 -> 34:03.820] a racy Mercedes W15, the RB20 is good again.
[34:03.820 -> 34:05.780] I mean, if the margins are tight,
[34:05.780 -> 34:08.000] it makes all the difference in the world.
[34:08.000 -> 34:10.140] Yeah, props to the McLaren pit crew.
[34:10.140 -> 34:12.020] Yep, shout out, definitely kudos
[34:12.020 -> 34:13.140] to the McLaren boys for that.
[34:13.140 -> 34:16.980] I think on the flip side of some cars with good pace,
[34:16.980 -> 34:19.300] what do you think's going on with Ferrari again?
[34:19.300 -> 34:23.020] They seemed like they nailed it in Suzuka and Singapore,
[34:23.020 -> 34:25.500] and now we're back at the curious case
[34:25.500 -> 34:26.640] of Ferrari performance.
[34:26.640 -> 34:27.780] What do you think's going on?
[34:27.780 -> 34:30.480] I was very surprised because one of the things
[34:30.480 -> 34:33.480] that I thought when Pirelli went and imposed
[34:33.480 -> 34:36.740] then this sort of mandated three stop,
[34:36.740 -> 34:40.000] is I thought, okay, either Ferrari's going to nail this
[34:40.000 -> 34:43.340] because they don't have to worry about preserving tires
[34:43.340 -> 34:45.180] so they can just push. And I thought, okay, that could be good. But then I thought, well, they haven't have to worry about preserving tires so they can just push, you know?
[34:45.180 -> 34:47.060] And I thought, okay, that could be good.
[34:47.060 -> 34:48.100] But then I thought, well,
[34:48.100 -> 34:50.580] they haven't done the best thing in the world
[34:50.580 -> 34:52.120] sometimes with stops.
[34:52.120 -> 34:54.540] And so potentially that could be a problem.
[34:54.540 -> 34:56.540] But I was so surprised.
[34:56.540 -> 34:58.020] Something must have happened.
[34:58.020 -> 35:00.500] There must have been something wrong with LeClaire's car.
[35:00.500 -> 35:02.460] I mean, first of all, signs wasn't even in the race.
[35:02.460 -> 35:04.960] So we never got a chance to see what he had.
[35:04.960 -> 35:05.000] But LeClaire's pace, like, signs wasn't even in the race, so we never got a chance to see what he had.
[35:05.000 -> 35:08.080] But LeClaire's pace, like, it just wasn't there.
[35:08.080 -> 35:10.560] I mean, I have no idea what happened to it.
[35:10.560 -> 35:12.280] We talk about wind sensitivity.
[35:12.280 -> 35:14.880] Okay, wind sensitivity, we've heard before
[35:14.880 -> 35:17.440] that the Ferrari has wind sensitivity, right?
[35:17.440 -> 35:19.480] But the sprint race was windy.
[35:19.480 -> 35:21.460] The race was not windy.
[35:21.460 -> 35:24.020] So there shouldn't have been that wind sensitivity
[35:24.020 -> 35:25.280] during the race, So I'm not sure
[35:25.280 -> 35:28.800] what happened. I don't know if you have any thoughts Molly. I'm so frustrated with that too
[35:28.800 -> 35:34.560] because the race engineer should be alerting the driver of wind direction as they're giving them
[35:34.560 -> 35:39.200] guidance through a race. Because if it's a tailwind, a headwind, is it changing directions
[35:39.200 -> 35:46.560] from a headwind to a tailwind, that is going to directly affect the car because a tailwind will cause you to be looser
[35:46.560 -> 35:49.280] and it'll make your car freer and can cause you to spin out.
[35:49.280 -> 35:51.520] A headwind will make your car feel tighter
[35:51.520 -> 35:53.760] and more understeery and resistive to turning.
[35:53.760 -> 35:55.520] And if you get that transition,
[35:55.520 -> 35:57.280] because what happens is you come through the turn,
[35:57.280 -> 36:00.600] the wind direction goes from head on to now perpendicular
[36:00.600 -> 36:02.960] to the car body that changes the point
[36:02.960 -> 36:04.480] in which it's acting across the car.
[36:04.480 -> 36:05.360] It can also have
[36:05.360 -> 36:10.640] effects on the COP and cause issues that race engineers should have been telling them, wind
[36:10.640 -> 36:15.880] direction and where it was coming from, if it was changing, were the wind conditions the same as a
[36:15.880 -> 36:20.120] certain session, or that's I think something that if wind sensitivity was that big of a problem,
[36:20.120 -> 36:24.280] the race engineer should have been coaching them through that and like, hey, keep in mind tail
[36:24.280 -> 36:28.720] wind turn nine or whatever, like they should have been telling them or when conditions are the same as
[36:28.720 -> 36:34.720] this session so that there is a reference for the driver to be mindful of. As for what I think was
[36:34.720 -> 36:42.720] going on, this is where I was trying to find what it was because there was an issue that
[36:43.360 -> 36:45.000] Charl was complaining about that Charles was complaining about
[36:45.200 -> 36:47.160] and Carlos was complaining about
[36:47.160 -> 36:49.720] during the race with their power units.
[36:49.720 -> 36:51.720] And I can't remember what it was.
[36:51.720 -> 36:52.800] It was a misfire.
[36:52.800 -> 36:53.640] Thank you.
[36:53.640 -> 36:57.540] And so that already is a little scary.
[36:57.540 -> 37:00.960] You can run on a dropped cylinder or a misfiring engine.
[37:00.960 -> 37:01.920] It can happen.
[37:01.920 -> 37:03.640] You kind of just manage around it.
[37:03.640 -> 37:06.960] But that's concerning from a reliability standpoint.
[37:06.960 -> 37:09.220] I don't know how high of mileage this engine was,
[37:09.220 -> 37:10.680] what one it was out of the pool,
[37:10.680 -> 37:13.920] but to be consistently having to manage a misfire
[37:13.920 -> 37:15.120] for a weekend is not great.
[37:15.120 -> 37:18.240] You remember we had this discussion from Monza.
[37:18.240 -> 37:21.480] And when they had so much pace in Monza
[37:21.480 -> 37:25.480] and something that we kind of were throwing out there we didn't
[37:25.480 -> 37:30.800] know was had they been running their engines at a lower engine setting
[37:30.800 -> 37:34.320] potentially to protect them for reliability reasons and when they got to
[37:34.320 -> 37:38.660] Monza they turned the wick up and they said look we've got so many PUs in the
[37:38.660 -> 37:43.000] pool and we've only got so many races left we're just gonna run these things
[37:43.000 -> 37:45.720] full tilt. Yeah that's a good point.
[37:45.720 -> 37:51.640] Could there be some issues potentially creeping up now that maybe are a result of, if that's
[37:51.640 -> 37:53.640] true, of some of those things happening?
[37:53.640 -> 37:58.160] I mean, is that something like misfire that could be related to degradation due to running
[37:58.160 -> 37:59.160] it too high?
[37:59.160 -> 38:02.680] For anybody that doesn't know what a misfire is, so that you kind of know what we're talking
[38:02.680 -> 38:08.760] about, it's basically where one of your cylinders doesn't produce enough of a spark or
[38:08.760 -> 38:12.880] like high enough compression to be able to ignite in the combustion process and
[38:12.880 -> 38:16.960] so it's it's misfiring it's not working as intended and as your valves wear off
[38:16.960 -> 38:21.360] as your cylinders wear as you start to see damage from those your seals your
[38:21.360 -> 38:25.500] headers you can start to see degradation across your cylinders
[38:25.500 -> 38:30.540] in mileage and certain torque maps and certain RPM ranges in which the cam is operating and
[38:30.540 -> 38:34.660] how fast those are opening and closing and how many sparks you're putting through it
[38:34.660 -> 38:35.660] and all of that.
[38:35.660 -> 38:37.900] Your spray patterns can all affect that.
[38:37.900 -> 38:42.260] And so if that is true, and I wouldn't be surprised if maybe they said, let's turn them
[38:42.260 -> 38:46.080] up now, mons on out, we'll take the reliability hit if that's part of the problem.
[38:46.080 -> 38:49.560] I actually really, now that I think I have some time this week, I would love to go in
[38:49.560 -> 38:54.440] and look at some of their data off of telemetry if we can tell anything as to how the misfires
[38:54.440 -> 38:58.920] were maybe affecting them and what it really meant for their pace and kind of what they
[38:58.920 -> 39:00.120] were doing through the weekend.
[39:00.120 -> 39:04.240] I think that's something you can compare against probably McLaren or Red Bull to see what they're
[39:04.240 -> 39:06.000] doing. But I think that the management of trying to deal McLaren or Red Bull to see what they're doing but I think that the
[39:06.000 -> 39:12.220] management of trying to deal with a misfire in a weekend that you're in park for May after an hour of a session was
[39:12.220 -> 39:15.360] probably part of it and it's probably just part of the
[39:15.640 -> 39:20.320] Ferrari reliability woes in the world of they chose a car that was fast and unreliable
[39:20.680 -> 39:28.240] Rather than a car that's reliable and not as fast when they designed it. That's the curious case of Ferrari from Qatar. Now let's talk a little bit about the first lap
[39:28.240 -> 39:33.680] incident. I don't know, we usually don't spill the tea here. We don't get too dramatic on things,
[39:33.680 -> 39:38.800] but you know, we have to talk a little bit about the crash between Lewis and George on the first
[39:38.800 -> 39:46.440] lap. I think, you know, it was an opportunity missed, obviously, for Mercedes. I mean, Ferrari limited the damage a little bit
[39:46.440 -> 39:48.800] from the weekends in the constructors
[39:48.800 -> 39:51.640] because losing signs was a big hit.
[39:51.640 -> 39:52.800] Yeah, with a DNS.
[39:52.800 -> 39:55.360] But the minute that Lewis crashed out,
[39:55.360 -> 39:57.480] it just equaled the playing field
[39:57.480 -> 40:01.960] and all Leclerc needed to do was not DNF and not bomb.
[40:01.960 -> 40:05.460] And he did okay, even with misfiring engine. So they
[40:05.460 -> 40:10.520] limited the damage. But we have to kind of talk about this. And where I want to go with
[40:10.520 -> 40:14.900] this is you had one of the drivers that was starting on a soft tire Lewis Hamilton, you
[40:14.900 -> 40:18.920] had one of the drivers that was starting on a medium tire George Russell, we all know
[40:18.920 -> 40:24.320] that first of all, Lewis is on the on the clean side of the track, right with Max. So
[40:24.320 -> 40:26.000] p1 p3 clean side of the track, with Max. Yes. So P1 P3 clean side of the
[40:26.000 -> 40:30.880] track which means George is always going to struggle a little bit more than Maxwell or
[40:30.880 -> 40:34.800] Lewis well with the start because he's on the side that's got marbles and things like that.
[40:34.800 -> 40:40.080] From there we know that Lewis is also going to be faster off the jump because he's got a soft
[40:40.080 -> 40:44.960] tire. It's much grippier. He's going to be able to maybe get it a little bit more into the window
[40:44.960 -> 40:49.440] during that formation lap and the burnouts and everything to be able to get a good start. So
[40:49.440 -> 40:54.800] Lewis was always going to get a jump on George. And I'm just wondering what they talked about
[40:54.800 -> 41:00.640] before the race. Did they talk anything about the strategy of look, Lewis is on soft, you're on the
[41:00.640 -> 41:11.240] medium, keep it clean, like don't take each other out. I mean, because what ended up happening was they took each other out. Kudos to Louis for putting his
[41:11.240 -> 41:16.060] hand up and saying, look, this one's on me. And I really respect him for that because
[41:16.060 -> 41:20.520] I think that's the right thing to do. I agree. But you've got two very aggressive drivers
[41:20.520 -> 41:25.380] there in Louis and George. We know George is aggressive. When George was in the
[41:25.380 -> 41:30.740] Williams and he was trying to pass Botas and they came together. That was in Monza, right?
[41:30.740 -> 41:35.000] Was it? I think it was in Monza. I mean, we saw the fire in George right there. George
[41:35.000 -> 41:40.860] is a fiery driver. You want that from your two drivers. You want them to be fiery and
[41:40.860 -> 41:45.560] on the limit and wanting to win. But I'm just wondering, what did they talk about at the start?
[41:45.560 -> 41:48.180] I don't know if you had any thoughts on what happened there.
[41:48.180 -> 41:51.040] They literally got inches away from taking out Max Verstappen as well.
[41:51.040 -> 41:56.560] I don't know if you saw how close George Russell's front wing got to Max's rear tire.
[41:56.560 -> 41:58.040] It was almost complete chaos.
[41:58.040 -> 41:59.040] Yeah.
[41:59.040 -> 42:04.360] And with what they talked about before the race, it's common, especially with teams,
[42:04.360 -> 42:06.480] is this is the plan, this is the strap plan
[42:06.480 -> 42:08.540] based on how I'm starting, based on how you're starting.
[42:08.540 -> 42:10.300] I'm on the preferred line, maybe you're not.
[42:10.300 -> 42:13.600] We're going to work together to create a space
[42:13.600 -> 42:16.680] to let you in in front of me or behind me.
[42:16.680 -> 42:17.600] I'm going to do this.
[42:17.600 -> 42:19.200] It's typically to let you in in front of me.
[42:19.200 -> 42:21.180] It's very, very common in NASCAR.
[42:21.180 -> 42:24.020] That's where I know it from, is where by design,
[42:24.020 -> 42:25.520] I'm going to back up the
[42:25.520 -> 42:30.440] car behind me and give you a space to get down in front of me so that we can then now
[42:30.440 -> 42:34.920] work together. And so if I had to guess, it was something like that, knowing that the
[42:34.920 -> 42:39.040] softs would get off the line better. Lewis was likely to have the better start. George
[42:39.040 -> 42:43.620] may have not. He could act as almost like a rear gunner in that situation to get Lewis
[42:43.620 -> 42:48.640] in position and then their strategy would have played out accordingly. That way they would have been able to work together
[42:48.640 -> 42:54.880] though in tandem once in line to try and not only catch Max, but also to kind of defend against who
[42:54.880 -> 43:01.360] was behind them. As for what happened, unfortunately, it's a racing incident. When you go and
[43:01.360 -> 43:09.840] look at what happened and how George gets pinched on the inside and he's got Lewis on his outside, which seems like a by design move.
[43:09.840 -> 43:14.720] He is very fiery and is very aggressive, but if this wasn't a by design move as they were
[43:14.720 -> 43:20.000] talking about, he gets pinched and he's now defending in a situation that he wasn't planning
[43:20.000 -> 43:21.780] to have to defend for.
[43:21.780 -> 43:25.160] It compromises that situation, if that's really what they did
[43:25.160 -> 43:26.220] agree on.
[43:26.220 -> 43:31.500] And so at that point, as he's trying to defend and still be mindful of whatever they agreed
[43:31.500 -> 43:35.560] on for this race start, he gets pinched and he's in a blind spot.
[43:35.560 -> 43:37.000] Lewis never saw him.
[43:37.000 -> 43:40.160] Lewis kind of comes down onto him and ultimately winds up wrecking out.
[43:40.160 -> 43:44.220] And this is where I always joke, Formula One needs spotters.
[43:44.220 -> 43:47.840] This is arguably incredibly avoidable.
[43:47.840 -> 43:49.480] If you have a spotter in your ear,
[43:49.480 -> 43:51.520] they would know that there is someone there
[43:51.520 -> 43:52.960] that they can't see.
[43:52.960 -> 43:56.040] And so I really think that this was
[43:56.040 -> 43:58.680] an unfortunate racing incident.
[43:58.680 -> 44:01.920] I don't think there was any kind of malice
[44:01.920 -> 44:02.800] or anything in it.
[44:02.800 -> 44:07.880] It's two aggressive drivers trying to get the best possible position.
[44:07.880 -> 44:14.040] They had a plan that became either compromised or just with George having to defend, wasn't
[44:14.040 -> 44:19.720] able to execute as intended. It just had unfortunate consequences for the team as a whole, losing
[44:19.720 -> 44:23.320] one of the cars. It sucks that it was his teammate. Never want to wreck your teammate.
[44:23.320 -> 44:26.800] That's rule one. It sucks it happens, but I think that's
[44:26.800 -> 44:31.280] kind of my stance on it. Yeah, and I was listening to the race podcast, you know,
[44:31.280 -> 44:36.760] right after the race on Sunday, and they were talking about kind of could this be
[44:36.760 -> 44:42.000] the start potentially of something in the future? I mean, where you've got two
[44:42.000 -> 44:45.600] very proficient drivers who are both very edgy
[44:45.600 -> 44:51.840] and you know what could happen potentially in the future when they have a very racy car.
[44:51.840 -> 44:55.200] I mean, this year, you know, car is not the W13.
[44:55.200 -> 44:56.000] It is not.
[44:56.000 -> 45:03.280] The W14 is, it's better than the W13, but you know, if the rumors of what they're doing with the W15
[45:03.280 -> 45:05.280] and some of the initial gains that they're seeing
[45:05.280 -> 45:11.600] are true, it's going to pale in comparison. Potentially, the W15 could be very racy.
[45:12.320 -> 45:18.960] And then what happens next year when you've got two drivers that are as strong as Mercedes has
[45:18.960 -> 45:26.760] in their pairing that are now going head to head? What happens if this happens again or happens twice?
[45:26.760 -> 45:29.560] This is how these things start to boil over.
[45:29.560 -> 45:30.400] It is.
[45:30.400 -> 45:33.040] And it could be the start of something, it may not.
[45:33.040 -> 45:34.480] Let's see what happens next year,
[45:34.480 -> 45:36.820] but I think it's gonna be very interesting.
[45:36.820 -> 45:39.880] Now we move forward to Circuit of the Americas
[45:39.880 -> 45:41.120] for the US Grand Prix.
[45:41.120 -> 45:43.400] I am very excited, I will be there.
[45:43.400 -> 45:47.460] And so if you see me, I do have Breaking Bias stickers
[45:47.460 -> 45:48.900] before we get into anything else.
[45:48.900 -> 45:51.940] Yes, come see me, come say hi, I don't bite,
[45:51.940 -> 45:53.940] gladly talk your ear off and all of that.
[45:53.940 -> 45:55.420] So come say hey, if you see me,
[45:55.420 -> 45:58.660] we're headed to the Lone Star State to Texas.
[45:58.660 -> 46:02.080] And I think this is going to be a very, very interesting
[46:02.080 -> 46:04.100] race because not only is it another sprint,
[46:04.100 -> 46:06.440] there are lots of rumored upgrades.
[46:06.440 -> 46:09.200] It is another high-speed front-limited circuit,
[46:09.200 -> 46:10.380] kind of like Silverstone,
[46:10.380 -> 46:11.680] so I don't know what you're thinking,
[46:11.680 -> 46:14.080] but any thoughts for Austin right out of the gate?
[46:14.080 -> 46:18.560] Yeah, I would say I expect teams that were good
[46:18.560 -> 46:23.400] in Silverstone to be good in Austin, at Koda.
[46:23.400 -> 46:26.160] So that means Red Bull, McLaren,
[46:26.160 -> 46:28.740] I think Mercedes is gonna be good there as well.
[46:28.740 -> 46:31.840] Interested to see what happens with the Mercedes update.
[46:31.840 -> 46:34.640] They are rumored to be bringing a floor update.
[46:34.640 -> 46:37.040] I'm very curious to see what Mercedes
[46:37.040 -> 46:39.360] is gonna get out of this floor update.
[46:39.360 -> 46:41.800] I mean, James Allison has pretty much confirmed
[46:41.800 -> 46:43.320] that they are bringing a floor update,
[46:43.320 -> 46:45.100] but he's been very reserved in
[46:50.360 -> 46:51.160] kind of what the floor update is gonna bring in terms of lap time. He said it's gonna be more so about
[46:55.120 -> 47:01.680] understanding that the direction that they're taking is the right direction. And I think Twitter slash X whatever went nuts when they heard this because they thought they don't understand the car
[47:01.680 -> 47:07.240] but it's that's not what it's about. It's about, they're going a direction with the car
[47:07.240 -> 47:09.720] with some updates to allow them to run
[47:09.720 -> 47:11.640] in an optimal race window.
[47:11.640 -> 47:16.040] Remember, last year, they designed the car to run too low.
[47:16.040 -> 47:17.260] And it didn't work.
[47:17.260 -> 47:19.600] This year, they said they designed the car
[47:19.600 -> 47:22.660] to run a little too high and it wasn't fast.
[47:22.660 -> 47:26.280] So I expect that they've done something
[47:26.280 -> 47:30.380] that is more related to ride heights and stability,
[47:30.380 -> 47:34.160] meaning can they run potentially at a lower ride height
[47:34.160 -> 47:38.260] and get the aero stability, the mechanical stability
[47:38.260 -> 47:41.720] that they need, which would confirm some of the things
[47:41.720 -> 47:43.760] they're probably planning to do with the W15.
[47:43.760 -> 47:49.580] That's like that photo set I sent you where you could see the ride height differences between some of the cars in Qatar and
[47:49.580 -> 47:54.000] Aston Martin looked like they were running significantly higher. Yeah, much higher. Yeah, exactly.
[47:54.000 -> 47:56.520] You know, there's there's something to
[47:56.940 -> 48:04.960] this whole aspect that we talked about in the last podcast Molly about the size of the gearbox and how it
[48:04.960 -> 48:06.440] affects the amount of room and the space that you have in the last podcast, Molly, about the size of the gearbox and how it affects the amount of room
[48:06.440 -> 48:08.920] and the space that you have in the diffuser.
[48:08.920 -> 48:11.440] You remember we were talking about how Red Bull,
[48:11.440 -> 48:13.760] potentially could some of this small gearbox
[48:13.760 -> 48:16.760] be causing some of the issues that Red Bull's been having
[48:16.760 -> 48:19.360] with their shifts and things like that.
[48:19.360 -> 48:20.880] I mean, you said very clearly,
[48:20.880 -> 48:23.440] you think it's more of a hydraulic issue than anything.
[48:23.440 -> 48:26.440] But we know that having a smaller gearbox
[48:26.440 -> 48:28.880] allows you to have more room for the diffuser,
[48:28.880 -> 48:31.680] which allows you to basically run the diffuser harder.
[48:31.680 -> 48:33.840] And then you get more rear load.
[48:33.840 -> 48:36.320] We know Mercedes has been struggling with rear load
[48:36.320 -> 48:37.680] for most of the year.
[48:37.680 -> 48:41.380] And one of the ways that potentially you gain rear load
[48:41.380 -> 48:42.880] is by running lower.
[48:42.880 -> 48:47.000] But if you can't run lower because you start to bounce,
[48:47.000 -> 48:49.960] you start to get this arrow bouncing coming back again,
[48:49.960 -> 48:53.440] then that's a problem and it could be completely related
[48:53.440 -> 48:54.840] to the rear arrow.
[48:54.840 -> 48:57.120] So maybe there's something going on there
[48:57.120 -> 48:58.960] that is attributable to that,
[48:58.960 -> 49:01.320] but I'm curious to see how that affects their pace.
[49:01.320 -> 49:04.560] Speaking of upgrades, I think that everybody's so focused
[49:04.560 -> 49:06.960] on the Mercedes upgrades, have they forgotten
[49:06.960 -> 49:10.560] that Haas is essentially bringing a B-spec car to Austin?
[49:10.560 -> 49:11.400] Yeah.
[49:11.400 -> 49:14.160] Ayo Komatsu, I believe he's senior performance engineer
[49:14.160 -> 49:15.000] is his title.
[49:15.000 -> 49:16.600] They were talking about it in Qatar
[49:16.600 -> 49:19.320] and how the team has largely been in survival mode
[49:19.320 -> 49:23.240] until they could get this overhauled package to them
[49:23.240 -> 49:24.800] for the Austin GP.
[49:24.800 -> 49:26.480] And they haven't really said it's going to
[49:26.480 -> 49:31.200] give us this many tenths or it's going to be this in race pace or quali pace, but it's to kind of
[49:31.200 -> 49:36.720] understand the kind of shortcomings of the current car and then get a better understanding for
[49:36.720 -> 49:44.000] characteristics for 2024. But what's allegedly coming is full bodywork modifications,
[49:44.000 -> 49:46.220] side pod inlet modifications, a completely
[49:46.220 -> 49:52.060] new floor, but they're keeping the existing front and rear wing, which I thought was interesting.
[49:52.060 -> 49:54.020] So they're kind of everything in between.
[49:54.020 -> 50:01.260] They're re-profiling, which I am very, very, very, very, very excited to see what this
[50:01.260 -> 50:02.260] could be.
[50:02.260 -> 50:03.600] We've had the white Ferrari.
[50:03.600 -> 50:05.040] Is this going to be a white Red Bull?
[50:05.040 -> 50:06.320] What is this going to be?
[50:06.320 -> 50:10.840] I am really, really curious to see what they're coming with,
[50:10.840 -> 50:13.160] because I think everybody is so focused on the Mercedes
[50:13.160 -> 50:14.600] upgrade that's coming, they forgot
[50:14.600 -> 50:16.120] that this B-spec is coming.
[50:16.120 -> 50:17.880] And I think that there's probably
[50:17.880 -> 50:19.840] going to be some bits and pieces on other teams
[50:19.840 -> 50:22.360] as well to try and trial some stuff with.
[50:22.360 -> 50:24.280] So I think that Koda, there's going
[50:24.280 -> 50:27.060] to be a lot of upgrades for Koda.
[50:27.060 -> 50:30.140] There'll be some stuff that makes an appearance in free practice one
[50:30.140 -> 50:33.260] since that's the only session they have before park for May.
[50:33.260 -> 50:34.660] Yes, it's a sprint weekend.
[50:34.660 -> 50:35.940] Good shout there, Molly.
[50:35.940 -> 50:40.420] I'm originally from Texas, so this race for me is a bit nostalgic.
[50:40.420 -> 50:47.340] When I think of Koda, Koda to me is a track where I feel like you really can understand
[50:47.340 -> 50:52.760] a lot about aero updates you're going to do because it's a high-speed track.
[50:52.760 -> 50:58.320] You've got an incredibly challenging, I couldn't even tell you right now off the top of my
[50:58.320 -> 51:03.400] head what the turn numbers are, but it's in sector three in Coda where you've got basically
[51:03.400 -> 51:06.720] a whole bunch of switchbacks before you've got a hairpin.
[51:06.720 -> 51:11.120] It's a very like flowing track where you really need grip.
[51:11.120 -> 51:14.640] You need really great aero mechanical balance,
[51:14.640 -> 51:17.200] aero balance for sure, because you gotta trust
[51:17.200 -> 51:19.320] that when you're throwing it into those corners
[51:19.320 -> 51:20.760] that the grip's gonna be there.
[51:20.760 -> 51:22.880] It's like Qatar kind of in that sense.
[51:22.880 -> 51:24.920] And I'm thinking, this is the perfect track.
[51:24.920 -> 51:28.020] I know it's a sprint weekend, but this is the perfect track where you can really
[51:28.020 -> 51:32.400] understand if these aero updates are actually working these floor updates. I think it's
[51:32.400 -> 51:37.340] no surprise that teams are bringing floor updates to Austin for that reason. I've heard
[51:37.340 -> 51:44.660] it's going to be a white Red Bull. But for me, I mean, there's no Red Bull, Aston, whatever.
[51:44.660 -> 51:47.000] We've had enough convergence now,
[51:47.000 -> 51:49.560] and there's enough bits and pieces from everyone
[51:49.560 -> 51:52.960] that we just need to give credit to all the great designs
[51:52.960 -> 51:55.160] that everybody started to kind of converge on.
[51:55.160 -> 51:58.320] But basically, it goes from this kind of pasta bowl,
[51:58.320 -> 52:00.600] side pod shape that they have,
[52:00.600 -> 52:04.040] to more of like a down washing side pod
[52:04.040 -> 52:08.500] with strong forward undercut and potential water slide
[52:08.500 -> 52:11.060] or gully or whatever you wanna call it going to the rear.
[52:11.060 -> 52:13.180] So if that's the direction they take,
[52:13.180 -> 52:15.840] that's very interesting because it's gonna be
[52:15.840 -> 52:18.220] with the Ferrari PU packaging.
[52:18.220 -> 52:20.660] I think they use the Ferrari gearbox as well, right?
[52:20.660 -> 52:23.300] Ferrari gearbox, suspension and PU.
[52:23.300 -> 52:24.260] Yeah, exactly.
[52:24.260 -> 52:27.880] So it's a great bit of insight as well to Ferrari,
[52:27.880 -> 52:29.800] you know, for what they might do for next year.
[52:29.800 -> 52:32.360] Yeah, and I think it's also from a Kota standpoint,
[52:32.360 -> 52:34.300] you're talking about how it's a great high speed track.
[52:34.300 -> 52:36.840] I think also what a lot of people often might forget
[52:36.840 -> 52:40.720] is it's a track that has features from so many other tracks
[52:40.720 -> 52:47.160] in the world that come together into this just insane, tough, tricky high-speed
[52:47.160 -> 52:48.160] tracks.
[52:48.160 -> 52:50.980] Like Turn 3, 4, 5, those are the Silverstone S's.
[52:50.980 -> 52:54.300] There's a triple right-hander, like the Hockenheim, I believe it is.
[52:54.300 -> 52:57.540] Some people argue what it is, and it's like the Nürburgring or the Hockenheim.
[52:57.540 -> 53:00.580] There's the stadium section that's just like Mexico with the low speed.
[53:00.580 -> 53:05.400] There's a lot of features of this track that actually are representative
[53:05.400 -> 53:09.240] to other pieces of other tracks in the world.
[53:09.240 -> 53:14.760] So this also lends itself to great correlation of performance in not only models, but also
[53:14.760 -> 53:17.340] in what they've done throughout the rest of the season as well.
[53:17.340 -> 53:20.280] So it'll be kind of like many sectors that they could look at as well.
[53:20.280 -> 53:23.040] I think that that's something to keep in mind too there.
[53:23.040 -> 53:27.300] That's that honestly, Molly, like that didn't jog in my head
[53:27.300 -> 53:29.760] until you said it, that's a great point.
[53:29.760 -> 53:31.280] Koda is that.
[53:31.280 -> 53:33.700] It is like kind of a paying homage
[53:33.700 -> 53:37.320] to all these amazing sections of different tracks
[53:37.320 -> 53:39.400] from around the world, you're 100% right.
[53:39.400 -> 53:42.120] And that would be a great opportunity to see
[53:42.120 -> 53:45.640] how your car is gonna perform in very challenging sections of other tracks on the calendar, that's a great opportunity to see how your car is going to perform in very challenging sections
[53:45.640 -> 53:48.160] of other tracks on the calendar. That's a great point.
[53:48.160 -> 53:52.200] I did a track walk when I was there for MotoGP and we kind of walked through and I was like,
[53:52.200 -> 53:55.560] hey, this reminds me of that. And the representative from KOTO was with me and was like, yeah,
[53:55.560 -> 54:00.040] actually that is because it's designed just like that. And we took these features and
[54:00.040 -> 54:04.560] it came in on track design. So I think that this is going to be a really interesting weekend
[54:04.560 -> 54:06.640] from what teams are gonna be learning,
[54:06.640 -> 54:08.600] what plans are and what their schedules are
[54:08.600 -> 54:12.160] for what they wanna do in the first practice session
[54:12.160 -> 54:13.600] since it is a sprint weekend.
[54:13.600 -> 54:15.400] Any sort of parting thoughts
[54:15.400 -> 54:17.480] or anything you're looking ahead to?
[54:17.480 -> 54:19.400] We talked about upgrades at CODA.
[54:19.400 -> 54:20.960] Any other things you wanna discuss?
[54:20.960 -> 54:23.000] No, just I'll see y'all in CODA.
[54:23.000 -> 54:25.000] Come say hi, I'm very excited.
[54:25.000 -> 54:26.760] So yeah, I think that's really it.
[54:26.760 -> 54:29.080] I have so much to do before I leave next week, but.
[54:29.080 -> 54:31.080] That's right.
[54:31.080 -> 54:32.120] I'm very excited.
[54:32.120 -> 54:34.240] So I think that we kind of touched on a lot,
[54:34.240 -> 54:36.160] and there's been a lot of great topics
[54:36.160 -> 54:37.600] we've covered and all of that.
[54:37.600 -> 54:38.920] So I don't have anything else.
[54:38.920 -> 54:40.080] I think we got it all out.
[54:40.080 -> 54:41.120] Anything you want to add?
[54:41.120 -> 54:44.160] Molly, I'm super jazzed and excited for you at Coda.
[54:44.160 -> 54:46.920] I know you're going to be out there producing some content
[54:46.920 -> 54:49.680] as well, so everybody be on the lookout,
[54:49.680 -> 54:51.960] listening for some things potentially that might come.
[54:51.960 -> 54:54.400] If you are there, go see Molly, get some stickers.
[54:54.400 -> 54:55.840] She's super nice.
[54:55.840 -> 54:58.480] Also, if you are around, I'm gonna plug this.
[54:58.480 -> 55:01.040] I'm hosting a Creators in Coffee event,
[55:01.040 -> 55:02.880] the Wednesday of COTA week as well.
[55:02.880 -> 55:06.000] I'll cross post it on the Breaking Bias socials
[55:06.000 -> 55:08.280] so you have it, but it is Daznudo Coffee,
[55:08.280 -> 55:11.140] which is a fantastic Austin local coffee spot.
[55:11.140 -> 55:15.360] Wednesday from 10 a.m. to noon, come and go as you please.
[55:15.360 -> 55:18.440] Just wanna kick off the weekend with some good coffee,
[55:18.440 -> 55:20.260] good friends, see some familiar faces,
[55:20.260 -> 55:22.560] make some new friends and get to know everybody
[55:22.560 -> 55:24.240] and kind of kick it off on the right foot.
[55:24.240 -> 55:26.160] So I'm looking forward to it.
[55:26.160 -> 55:30.840] And yeah, definitely keep an eye on our socials for all of the fun happenings in Austin.
[55:30.840 -> 55:31.840] For sure.
[55:31.840 -> 55:35.760] And I mean, you know, I'm from Texas, but I'm really from Houston.
[55:35.760 -> 55:38.800] And so Austin is just down the road from from Houston.
[55:38.800 -> 55:43.380] And Austin is one of my favorite places because there's so many great coffee shops, so many
[55:43.380 -> 55:45.520] amazing places to eat. And it's just it's so many great coffee shops, so many amazing places to eat.
[55:45.520 -> 55:48.440] And it's just a great experience.
[55:48.440 -> 55:50.280] I guess maybe aside from traffic.
[55:50.280 -> 55:51.120] Yeah.
[55:51.120 -> 55:51.940] Yeah.
[55:51.940 -> 55:55.760] It's a great experience that weekend there in Austin,
[55:55.760 -> 55:56.600] for sure.
[55:56.600 -> 55:57.440] Lots going on.
[55:57.440 -> 55:59.840] Make sure to go check out all the things that Molly's doing.
[55:59.840 -> 56:02.000] You know, and be sure to obviously, you know,
[56:02.000 -> 56:04.840] like, subscribe to all of our content channels that we have.
[56:04.840 -> 56:08.720] We have the YouTube page, we have our Twitter X page, and be sure to obviously, you know, like, subscribe to all of our content channels that we have. We have the YouTube page, we have our Twitter x page and be sure to tell your friends about
[56:08.720 -> 56:13.840] the podcast as well. On behalf of myself, Dr. Al-Aabs and my amazing co-host, Molly,
[56:13.840 -> 56:18.560] I want to thank everybody for tuning in. And again, remind everybody, break the bias and
[56:18.560 -> 56:22.560] let's be stronger together. Thanks, everybody, for listening. And we will catch you next time.
[56:22.560 -> 56:39.840] See you again next time.
[56:39.840 -> 56:40.840] Thanks Brexit.
[56:40.840 -> 56:41.980] Appreciate that.
[56:41.980 -> 56:43.840] Thanks for nothing.
[56:38.910 -> 56:43.550] Brexit. Appreciate that. Thanks for nothing!