How Do Teams Prepare For A Track F1s Never Raced At Before?

For the first time in over 50 years, F1 will be racing back-to-back at new venues. Last time out, we raced at the Losail International Spin in Qatar, and this weekend cars will take to the track at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

F1 is no stranger to new tracks. Since 2014, six new circuits have arrived on the calendar, with Miami and Igora Drive in Russia set to make their debuts in the next two years.

As Mercedes’ Trackside Engineering Director, Andrew Shovlin, explained: “They are quite heady for engineers considering new tracks throw up new challenges and also, there is an opportunity. If you can victorious there largest prepared than anyone else, then you’ve got a good endangerment of stuff the best, stuff the fastest.”

So how do drivers and teams prepare for the unknown, a track F1’s never raced at before?

LEARNING THE CIRCUIT

Qatar and Saudi Arabia both presented slightly variegated problems for teams. Losail was a very late wing to the timetable in September but had previously hosted MotoGP races so teams could physically see the layout beforehand.

Meanwhile, teams have had wangle to the Jeddah layout since March, but as the spin is still under construction, no cars have overly driven virtually it, unlike Mugello last year, which Ferrari uses for testing.

Once the layout has been finalised, drivers rely on the simulator to help them prepare for the race. Teams replicate the layout and the track surface, kerbs, and corners, especially Jeddah’s Turn 13 banked hairpin. Drivers can play virtually with the setup to help them find the right wastefulness and lines to maximise the car’s potential.

After previously revealing he only does virtually 20 laps a year in the Mercedes sim, plane Lewis Hamilton has been preparing for Jeddah. Some teams aren’t as lucky, as Haas’ lack of a simulator ways they are once at a disadvantage.

In the sim and prepping for Saudi. No let up, LH! ?

? x @LewisHamilton pic.twitter.com/IwVdab5oEp

— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) November 24, 2021

COMPUTER SIMULATIONS

As the drivers uncork to learn the circuit, the engineers are nonflexible at work running thousands of computer simulations to find the platonic setup.

Working in parallel, these computer simulations don’t require the driver’s input and can help the team work out the key characteristics of the track, such as the levels of grip from the tarmac, the car wastefulness and the downforce required from the wings.

The simulations moreover help strategists work out tyre life and ousting to form plans for nearly all eventualities wideness a weekend. Once a setup has been decided, the drivers are then brought when in to make any last-minute tweaks, adapting to each of their individual driving styles.

Pirelli moreover run their own simulations to help them decide which three tyre compounds to take and the tyre pressures needed to stave teams overstretching a one-stop strategy or requiring an excessive number of pit stops.

The COVID-19 pandemic meant that Pirelli spoken the tyre allocations for the whole season in one go in February, unlike previous years where tyre choices were spoken a few weeks surpassing the races. Drivers were moreover given the same typecasting of tyre sets each weekend; two hard, three medium, eight soft.

TRACK WALK

The track walk will be the first time the drivers will see the Jeddah circuit. Alongside their engineers, drivers can scout out the spin and identify any areas to focus on or concerns. One thing to note with Jeddah is that considering of the quick turnaround, the tarmac will be relatively fresh and with low grip, something that might not have been fully factored into any simulations.

Usually, the track walks can be a bit repetitive, expressly for places like Silverstone and Monza, which towards on the timetable every year. The opposite problem occurs for Qatar and Saudi Arabia with not unbearable track time, and despite previously saying he couldn’t be arsed with the track walks, Max Verstappen was spotted getting to know the Losail circuit!

ALWAYS LEARNING

Throughout the weekend, drivers and teams will constantly be learning and adapting their setups. A lack of support series in Qatar meant the teams were reliant on their own data.

Fortunately for them, F2 will be joining them in Jeddah. Although there’s a well-spoken difference in speed between the two championships, identifying overtaking opportunities and variegated lines can help the F1 drivers largest understand the challenges superiority and the biggest risks on track.

Hopefully, the drivers and teams have washed-up their homework surpassing they enter the unknown this weekend.

Are you excited to see the Jeddah Corniche Spin in action? Let us know in the comments below.