2017 Malaysia Grand Prix - Sepang, 29 September-01 October

[JonoNic]

I am crunching the numbers for the tracks for ferrari vs mercedes.... Maybe someone can present it before i do...
Comparing track length.. Temperature.. Average speed. Percent throttle. Average speed in the turns. End of straight speed to see if anything sticks.

So far the ferrari has been strong on a
average speed tracks such as Spa (245kph).. But it was also slow at silverstone (246kph).. Maybe something else needed to see why.
Temperatures and tyre selection (track abrasion and energy) could be factors.

This website is a good data source

http://www.f1mix.com/circuits/sepang-in ... ircuit.asp

How about including the probability of/vulnerabilty to overtakes at the start or during the race, also the risk of under or over cuts during pit stops?

[PlatinumZealot]

Hmm that could come from track positions graphs from F1 fanantic.

[TAG]

Holy sheep dip bat man, just realized. Four GPs in October!

[NathanOlder]

Im looking forward to Malaysia and Japan back to back, then a week off before US and Mexico back to back.

2 weeks from now and we would have had 2 more races and we haven't got any race this weekend!

[GrandAxe]

A surefire way to compare two tracks would be to create dimensions for vectors out of the characteristics of the straights and corners and then do a cosine similarity of both. Other similarity metrics might work better or worse.

For corners, things to consider as dimensions could be:

• curvature,

• arc length,

• entry speed,

• exit speed

• width

For straights, the dimensions could be:

• maximum speed,

• length,

• width

• entry speed,

• brake point speed

Of course, the similarity test can be done for either the entire track or for a set of sections.

[godlameroso]

Pole in the 1:29's?

[Moose]

I'd suggest that this devision of tracks should be reasonably adequate for estimating who should be faster where:

High speed with tough braking zones:
- Bahrain (Fer)
- Canada (Merc)
- Russia (Merc)
- Monza (Merc)

High speed with fast flowing corners:
- Silverstone (Merc)
- Austria (Merc)
- Spa (Merc)
- Malaysia
- Japan

Medium speed:
- Spain (Merc)
- Brazil

Low speed traction:
- Monaco (Fer)
- Hungary (Fer)
- Singapore (Merc (Ferrari really, but I'm going off who won))

Mixed bag:
- Australia (Fer)
- China (Merc)
- Baku (RBR)
- CoTA
- Mexico
- Abu Dhabi

With that categorization it seems clear to me that Malaysia is a Merc track. If anyone can show me why that categorization is poor, I'm all for it.

[NathanOlder]

because Red Bull weren't the fastest in Baku

Great list thought, and fully agree

[foxmulder_ms]

I'd suggest that this devision of tracks should be reasonably adequate for estimating who should be faster where:

High speed with tough braking zones:
- Bahrain (Fer)
- Canada (Merc)
- Russia (Merc)
- Monza (Merc)

High speed with fast flowing corners:
- Silverstone (Merc)
- Austria (Merc)
- Spa (Merc)
- Malaysia
- Japan

Medium speed:
- Spain (Merc)
- Brazil

Low speed traction:
- Monaco (Fer)
- Hungary (Fer)
- Singapore (Merc (Ferrari really, but I'm going off who won))

Mixed bag:
- Australia (Fer)
- China (Merc)
- Baku (RBR)
- CoTA
- Mexico
- Abu Dhabi

With that categorization it seems clear to me that Malaysia is a Merc track. If anyone can show me why that categorization is poor, I'm all for it.

CoTA belongs to "High speed with fast flowing corners" group...

[Moose]

CoTA belongs to "High speed with fast flowing corners" group...

I would agree, if sector 3 didn't exist. Sector 3 is much closer to Hungary in its style.

[Moose]

because Red Bull weren't the fastest in Baku

Great list thought, and fully agree

Same reasoning as the Merc in Singapore line - they weren't fastest, but they did win.

[Restomaniac]

That list is interesting. Ferrari HAVE to win this year. The Mercedes Achilles heel has been their long wheel base. If they shorten that somewhat (a halfway house between themselves now and the Ferrari length) to fix their shortcomings then where do Ferrari go next?

[GPR-A duplicate2]

That list is interesting. Ferrari HAVE to win this year. The Mercedes Achilles heel has been their long wheel base. If they shorten that somewhat (a halfway house between themselves now and the Ferrari length) to fix their shortcomings then where do Ferrari go next?

From a layman perspective, we can attribute their challenges to the longer wheel Base. But, I have this feeling that they strongly believe in evolving the philosophy that they have chosen, which is how have always operated. So, I wouldn't be surprised to see if W09 would turn up with another longer wheel Base, minus the current challenges.

[Restomaniac]

That list is interesting. Ferrari HAVE to win this year. The Mercedes Achilles heel has been their long wheel base. If they shorten that somewhat (a halfway house between themselves now and the Ferrari length) to fix their shortcomings then where do Ferrari go next?

From a layman perspective, we can attribute their challenges to the longer wheel Base. But, I have this feeling that they strongly believe in evolving the philosophy that they have chosen, which is how have always operated. So, I wouldn't be surprised to see if W09 would turn up with another longer wheel Base, minus the current challenges.

True but I don't think it will be AS long. They have mentioned how much of a diva she is. I can see them knocking a small amount of length off to settle her down. I also wonder if they will go back and look at their tiny amount of rake? All obviously in layman's terms.

[NathanOlder]

Gasly to race in Malaysia instead of Kvyat

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/13203 ... lace-kvyat