Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team 2014

[turbof1]

Yes but there are disadvantages to it. First of, you'll have less power at some point due less fuel to be burned. Second your data is less compatible with your competitor; comparing stints from free practice becomes more difficult, for instance tyre life is affected.

[cirrusflyer]

...and no to mention...beeing on pole and underfuled compared to teammate right behind you is dangerous. Why?
Miss the start and teammate overtakes you to the first corner. Then you dont have enough fuel too hunt him and race is over.
So IMHO they do not differ in fuel they have in car.

[George-Jung]

Then you dont have enough fuel too hunt him and race is over.

But you will be lighter, so probably better handeling characteristics.. which probably we result in faster lap times..
and therefor you could still be able to hunt down/overtake your teammate.

[turbof1]

Then you dont have enough fuel too hunt him and race is over.

But you will be lighter, so probably better handeling characteristics.. which probably we result in faster lap times..
and therefor you could still be able to hunt down/overtake your teammate.

The question boils down to which advantage is bigger:
-a lighter car better in cornering
-a heavier car better in power

IMO, we are speaking of only 100kg of fuel. They already need to run a significant amount of the race in some sort of fuel saving mode; at one point loosing another several kg of fuel will bring a lot more problems then you can win out of it.

So yes, I also find the insinuation that Hamilton runs lighter bogus. I'm rather more inclined to believe he runs a badly calibrated sensor, then this.

[MercedesAMGSpy]

Then you dont have enough fuel too hunt him and race is over.

But you will be lighter, so probably better handeling characteristics.. which probably we result in faster lap times..
and therefor you could still be able to hunt down/overtake your teammate.

The question boils down to which advantage is bigger:
-a lighter car better in cornering
-a heavier car better in power

IMO, we are speaking of only 100kg of fuel. They already need to run a significant amount of the race in some sort of fuel saving mode; at one point loosing another several kg of fuel will bring a lot more problems then you can win out of it.

So yes, I also find the insinuation that Hamilton runs lighter bogus. I'm rather more inclined to believe he runs a badly calibrated sensor, then this.

Don't think so, we see the whole year the same pattern: Hamilton using less fuel, so it's not a sensor issue.

Gary Anderson: (original quote)

Hamilton verbraucht offensichtlich weniger Benzin als sein Teamkollege. Warum er ihn dennoch schlagen kann, scheint auf den ersten Blick rätselhaft zu sein. Zu sagen, er sei einfach schneller, wäre zu kurz gegriffen. Hamilton hat sich scheinbar einen konstanten Fahrstil angeeignet, durch den er weniger Benzin verbraucht, während er die geforderte Rundenzeit fährt. Dadurch kann er mit weniger Benzin ins Rennen gehen.

Der Blick auf die Grafik enthüllt, dass er über die Renndistanz durchschnittlich 3,5 Kilogramm weniger Benzin zu verbrauchen scheint. Rechnet man das in die Rundenzeit ein, ergibt sich ein Vorteil von 0,1 Sekunden pro Runde. Über die gesamte Renndistanz des Grand Prix von Spanien sind das 6,6 Sekunden. Sollte die Performance beider Fahrer und ihrer Autos identisch sein, hat Hamilton über die Renndistanz somit einem Vorteil von fast sieben Sekunden.

Google translate:

Hamilton obviously consumes less fuel than his teammate. Why he can beat him yet, seems to be puzzling at first glance. To say that he was simply faster would be too simplistic. Hamilton has apparently acquired a constant driving style, by which it uses less petrol while driving the required lap time. This allows it to go into the race with less gasoline.

Looking at the graph reveals that he seems to consume an average of 3.5 kilograms less gasoline over the race distance. If one adds the one in the lap time, there is an advantage of 0.1 seconds per lap. Over the entire race distance of the Grand Prix of Spain that is 6.6 seconds. If the performance of both drivers and their cars to be identical, Hamilton has over the race distance thus an advantage of almost seven seconds.

[Richard]

Another way of looking at this is that Rosberg has to burn more fuel to have a chance to catch and overtake Hamilton.

Hamilton has first pick of the optimum strategy so Rosberg is forced into a sub-optimal strategy. Hamilton’s first stop is timed to prevent an undercut. So Rosberg has to pit later, and again for the second stop. Hamilton ends up on a long final stint on hard tyres, while Rosberg ends up on a shorter final stint, hence he’s best to use soft tyres at the end. That gives Rosberg the possibility to catch and overtake at the end, but he needs to carry more fuel to do that.

It’s just like the tortoise/hare fable, except when the tortoise catches the hare at the end he finds the hare is blocking the road.

[johnsonwax]

They aren't underfueling Lewis. Lewis ended Barcelona with about the same fuel load as Nico, which is the first time that happened. He's got the fuel on board, but in previous races he was backing off on pace, saving fuel, saving the engine. You could tell from how he was staying off kerbs and managing his pace. In Bahrain, Lewis could go all out in the last 10 laps because of that earlier fuel savings, where Nico was a bit more constrained. But in Barcelona Lewis couldn't afford to back off because Nico was never more than 6 seconds behind him and as a result they had very similar fuel usages. They also finished much farther ahead of the field in this race as a result.

I think one of Lewis's advantages over Nico this season isn't necessarily that he's quicker on a single lap (though I think he is at that given his quali performance) but I think on race pace he is has been better than Nico at preserving fuel/tires while keeping a given pace, but it would appear that Nico is closing that particular gap. Unlike the 90s when there was no benefit to saving an engine, there's currently no serious benefit to finishing with a gap of more than 20s (pit stop bogey time to replace a puncture) if it means adding wear to the engine/gearbox. Look at Lewis' previous victory gaps: he runs up to ~12s gap by the final pit stop and then stretches that to ~20s. He did that in every race except Bahrain where the safety car closed up the field and in Barcelona where he couldn't get to those gaps ahead of Nico. He's very carefully managing his pace.

My guess as to the team strategy is that they can race at the start but once the DRS is activated they save fuel/tires and pull out a gap on the field. The 2nd car can maintain a gap on the first but not pass until after the last pit stop at which point gloves are off.

So the fuel saving for Lewis is a byproduct of getting a gap on the field and then backing off and maintaining it, where Nico due to either worse qualifying or not great starts has had to burn a lot more to get into 2nd and then to catch up with Lewis.

[kooleracer]

Gary Anderson: (original quote)

Hamilton verbraucht offensichtlich weniger Benzin als sein Teamkollege. Warum er ihn dennoch schlagen kann, scheint auf den ersten Blick rätselhaft zu sein. Zu sagen, er sei einfach schneller, wäre zu kurz gegriffen. Hamilton hat sich scheinbar einen konstanten Fahrstil angeeignet, durch den er weniger Benzin verbraucht, während er die geforderte Rundenzeit fährt. Dadurch kann er mit weniger Benzin ins Rennen gehen.

Der Blick auf die Grafik enthüllt, dass er über die Renndistanz durchschnittlich 3,5 Kilogramm weniger Benzin zu verbrauchen scheint. Rechnet man das in die Rundenzeit ein, ergibt sich ein Vorteil von 0,1 Sekunden pro Runde. Über die gesamte Renndistanz des Grand Prix von Spanien sind das 6,6 Sekunden. Sollte die Performance beider Fahrer und ihrer Autos identisch sein, hat Hamilton über die Renndistanz somit einem Vorteil von fast sieben Sekunden.

Google translate:

Hamilton obviously consumes less fuel than his teammate. Why he can beat him yet, seems to be puzzling at first glance. To say that he was simply faster would be too simplistic. Hamilton has apparently acquired a constant driving style, by which it uses less petrol while driving the required lap time. This allows it to go into the race with less gasoline.

Looking at the graph reveals that he seems to consume an average of 3.5 kilograms less gasoline over the race distance. If one adds the one in the lap time, there is an advantage of 0.1 seconds per lap. Over the entire race distance of the Grand Prix of Spain that is 6.6 seconds. If the performance of both drivers and their cars to be identical, Hamilton has over the race distance thus an advantage of almost seven seconds.

[/quote]

koolracer:
But that means he is carrying a fuel "penalty'' compared to Rosberg? 3kg of extra fuel is worth 0.1 a lap * 66 is 6.6 sec extra in Spain if the team gave Lewis the same amount of fuel as Rosberg.

So Gary Anderson the F1 guru is using my theory and my calculations. Wow i''m feeling really proud right now

[johnsonwax]

But I don't buy that explanation. In Barcelona, Lewis and Nico appeared to be much closer on fuel usage than in previous races and both were farther down the track compared to everyone else as well.

Put another way, why would Lewis agree to be short-fueled compared to his teammate who he knows is in a car just as quick? If Nico beat him to turn one, he'd be at a huge disadvantage by having to stay in fuel-saving mode from 2nd place.

[Phil]

I'm sorry, but AFAIR, the difference between Nico and Lewis in fuel usage seemed to be higher in barcelona than in other races. In fact i dont remember it being ever that high despite their close race from start to finish. In which other races was it higher?

[johnsonwax]

I'm sorry, but AFAIR, the difference between Nico and Lewis in fuel usage seemed to be higher in barcelona than in other races. In fact i dont remember it being ever that high despite their close race from start to finish. In which other races was it higher?

In every previous race it appeared that Lewis was using about 5% less fuel than everyone else including Nico. Alonzo was often the highest with Nico nearby, I assume because Nico had to push through the field in those races. Massa also often appeared to be running relatively light on fuel, but most of the other drivers were clumped up pretty tight including both RBs.

In Barcelona there was a graphic some time after the final pit stop that showed that there was no 5% gap for Hamilton. Nobody was particularly high or low, and everyone seemed to be within a lap of one another in terms of fuel. Hamilton might have been slightly lower than Nico, but they were very close and I noted it as being a Lewis fan it came at time when Nico was closing and I worried that Lewis would not have the kind of fuel advantage that he had in Bahrain to hold Nico off. It was the first time I saw a fuel graphic where Lewis wasn't an outlier. Too bad the FIA doesn't capture that information. It would be cool to see how fuel rates and lap times correlate. I already deleted that recording, but maybe someone can spot it.

[gray41]

Lewis first demonstrated this skill in Malaysia, the race in which we first saw him comprehensively beat Nico, since that race it has been a lot closer, probably too close for Lewis' liking.

[gray41]

I wonder if we'll see anything new on the car in the pits tomorrow.

[De Jokke]

http://www.gptoday.com/full_story/view/ ... _the_grid/

I don't get it, why would a team boss devalue his own drivers. BTW, Lewis beat nando in same car car in '07 while still being a rookie.

[CBeck113]

http://www.gptoday.com/full_story/view/ ... _the_grid/

I don't get it, why would a team boss devalue his own drivers. BTW, Lewis beat nando in same car car in '07 while still being a rookie.

Without starting a fanboy debate on this topic, which I really, really do not want in the team thread, I see it as a) clever politics - this is the best way to lure him into a position to lower his and/or Nico's salaries wishes, and b) it is also a challenge for "his" drivers to change his opinion.
Just don't forget, this is a widely shared opinion about Alonso...