Chapter 252: We Should Play to Our Strengths
While the Williams team discussed how to counter Mercedes, the Mercedes team was discussing the issue of Wu Shi.
Compared to the Williams team, who had realized early on that Wu Shi's driving style was different from normal drivers and had collected sufficient data, the Mercedes team could not obtain the most detailed data.
They could only analyze based on publicly available telemetry data.
Wu Shi's out-lap on low fuel and new yellow tires (medium compound tires) was astonishing.
The Mercedes team's strategy group and data analysts scrutinized the data repeatedly, exploring various figures back and forth.
They found that Wu Shi was very aggressive with his braking, especially late braking.
"Is it because their brake balance and brake migration are better than ours?" an engineer asked.
"Wu Shi's brake balance, except at the end of the straights, tends to be more rear-biased," Hamilton said.
As a direct competitor, Hamilton, though not a particularly hardworking driver, still spent a good deal of time studying Wu Shi's onboard footage.
Unfortunately, Williams's race car, unlike other teams, still used an older steering wheel without a screen in the middle, making it difficult to clearly see how much Wu Shi was adjusting from the T-cam view.
"I can understand the brake balance; he might prefer more oversteer, so the braking torque is more distributed to the rear wheels than yours.
"This situation is very common among drivers who prefer sensitive steering.
"But regarding brake migration, there are some things I don't understand, so I still need both drivers to give their most direct opinions."
Paddy Lowe said. As Mercedes's Executive Technical Director, he had recently needed to frequently discuss the Williams issue with everyone.
Brake balance is a frequently mentioned topic in F1, only less so than actions like steering, throttle, braking, and shifting.
On average, most drivers need to adjust it about 10 times per lap.
For teams like Mercedes, it's often visible in T-cam footage: a number between 50 and 60 occasionally appears on the screen in the middle of their steering wheel.
This indicates the brake balance.
Generally, the screen displays the brake proportion for the front wheels.
For example, if the front wheel brake proportion is 55%, then it can be naturally deduced that the rear wheel brake proportion is 45%.
As is well known, during braking, the vehicle's center of gravity shifts forward, so it's a physical characteristic that front-wheel braking is more effective than rear-wheel braking.
Therefore, F1's front brake components are also of a higher specification than the rear.
However, when the front wheels bear a greater braking torque, it leads to a consequence: a loss of lateral grip, making it difficult to turn.
This can cause understeer and a series of related problems.
Therefore, drivers who prefer sensitive steering often tend to reduce some of the front wheel's braking load.
This allows them to quickly regain the steering feel of the front wheels after heavy braking.
However, the required brake balance in a corner is not constant.
During heavy braking into a braking zone, a very strong braking force is needed.
At this point, the front wheels bearing more braking torque can effectively reduce speed and achieve better braking performance.
When the speed has decreased enough for corner entry, drivers perform trail braking.
Therefore, the front wheels' grip cannot be used solely for braking; it must also be distributed laterally to complete the turn.
Correspondingly, at this time, the brake balance needs to be shifted back to the rear wheels.
However, in such critical moments, no driver can adjust the brake balance in real-time.
Furthermore, F1 cars do not have an ABS system and cannot actively control the brake balance ratio and braking force.
So, to achieve better braking performance, there is a brake system adjustment function on the F1 steering wheel called brake migration.
In short, this function means that engineers pre-enter multiple sets of data before the race, and the brake balance is automatically adjusted during the braking process.
For example, if the required brake balance upon corner entry is 56% for the front wheels.
When the driver completes heavy braking and begins trail braking into the corner, the brake migration system will activate.
According to the preset data, they begin to change the brake balance, slowly decreasing from 56% to 54%.
This way, the front wheels' grip is maximized while ensuring braking performance.
The braking performance exhibited by Wu Shi's Williams was far superior to Massa's car.
Was this the result of Wu Shi's personal tuning preferences, or was there another explanation?
Hamilton took over: "The curve data for brake migration is something we and the engineers collectively derived during testing.
"I believe I have found that very good point, but we should know that under different circumstances, the car always needs different adaptive data.
"Even if we can predict in advance on Friday and Saturday the brake migration data needed during the car's changes each lap, that only applies when we are cruising.
"If a battle occurs, we usually can't make the brake migration function work optimally.
"This isn't the main point, this isn't the main point I want to make!"
Hamilton emphasized once more before continuing:
"The main point is that Wu Shi also frequently adjusts the parameters he needs even in corners.
"How can he be sure that parameter is the most suitable for the line he is currently taking?
"Moreover, we observe that Wu Shi, during attack or defense, also seems to be in the optimal utilization range of grip.
"Did they pre-set the attack and defense brake migration parameters for every corner?
"I don't think that's possible. On the track, drivers searching for grip will definitely face different situations.
"The only thing I believe is that Wu Shi's steering wheel has a quick-response device for adjusting brake balance, and Wu Shi can adjust it at any time under complex conditions.
"This isn't a car problem; it's a human problem."
Hamilton expressed his thoughts.
In fact, this was one reason why everyone currently couldn't accurately estimate Wu Shi's lap times.
Wu Shi displayed too many performances that surpassed everyone's understanding.
Toto Wolff listened from the side, offering no opinion, but instead looked at Rosberg, wanting to know what the driver would say.
Rosberg cleared his throat, sat up straight, and looked at everyone:
"My view is the same as Lewis's. What surprised me most wasn't his cruising ability.
"Rather, it was his driving beyond the car's limits during offensive and defensive battles.
"If any of us were to drive the FW37, it would be absolutely impossible to achieve his results."
As he said this, he even glanced at Hamilton.
Hamilton rubbed his nose, not refuting the statement.
Rosberg continued:
"We need to upgrade our assessment of Wu Shi. When making decisions, we should consider him on an equal footing.
"If we only analyze the vehicle's technical details, I don't think their technology is better than ours."
Evidently, in Rosberg's perception, Williams's current achievements were not due to their R&D being superior to Mercedes.
Instead, it was because Wu Shi's personal ability brought Williams to this height.
Many engineers around the rectangular conference table nodded, agreeing with Rosberg's statement.
"I understand. We should play to our strengths," Paddy Lowe clapped his hands.
Before the Italian Grand Prix arrived, the Williams team received very, very bad news!
Mercedes-Benz was going to use its remaining 7 tokens—
Tokens are technical currency used in F1 to balance power unit development; each team starts the season with 32 tokens.
Mercedes had confirmed it would bring power system upgrades to the Monza Circuit.
Its engine department head, Andy Cowell, revealed that three tokens were used for internal combustion engine improvements.
As for what the other four were for, outsiders did not know.
After Mercedes upgraded its engine, it would first be used on its own team.
Whether it was Lotus, Force India, or Williams, all would continue to use the old version.
This was simply a bolt from the blue.
The car's aerodynamics were already inferior to Mercedes, and now they had optimized their engine, which they couldn't even use at this race.
So, no matter what, this cast a shadow over the Italian Grand Prix.
Of course, this wasn't the only bad news.
According to some news reporters, Ferrari would also spend three tokens to research its V6 turbocharger's combustion device.
Although Ferrari was often suppressed by Mercedes this season, its car's performance ranked second in the paddock, which was basically a consensus—
The reason it was only a basic consensus was because of the existence of Wu Shi.
Everyone was unclear whether Williams's true performance was what Wu Shi demonstrated or what Massa demonstrated.
The other two engine suppliers, Honda, still had 4 tokens left, while Renault had a full 12 tokens and was busy preparing for the next major overhaul.
Honda also announced their performance optimization shortly after, saying that they could provide faster speeds on Monza's long straights.
How much faster, specifically? They said it was 30 kilometers per hour faster than their competitors.
This was a rather artful use of language.
Competitors? Which competitors? Manor or Mercedes?
But they also stated that they were already researching the layout of the 2016 powertrain.
This statement sounded as if they had already given up on the 2015 season and were considering the 2016 season.
McLaren Sporting Director Eric Boullier was certainly dissatisfied with this statement.
Of course, he didn't say anything publicly, only stating that the only thing that interested him on this trip to Italy was the local cuisine.
McLaren's trust in the Honda engine was nearing bankruptcy, which also made the atmosphere of cooperation between the two increasingly tense.
McLaren Team Principal Ron Dennis was very aggressive because McLaren had not had a main sponsor for two years and was currently facing a very serious economic crisis.
He did not have that much patience.
Soon after, the Daily Mail revealed that the McLaren Chairman had sent a letter to Tokyo, demanding the replacement of Honda engine head Yasuhisa Arai.
It can be said that as the season progressed into its mid-to-late stages, most teams had already seen their results for the season.
Once hope was gone, they naturally began to resolve internal issues.
Lotus's economic crisis further worsened, and they left Spa very late.
Because they were stopped by the police, reportedly by a group of creditors demanding payment.
Another group of creditors had already filed an appeal in the High Court in London.
In fact, Lotus was already on the verge of bankruptcy; Wu Shi had even seen them borrow tire blankets from neighboring teams during races.
Vettel's tire blow-out controversy continued, and he fiercely criticized Pirelli in the media.
Pirelli countered, stating that Vettel's excessive wear of that set of tires led to the final result.
Pirelli also hoped for more practice sessions to develop tires and called on drivers to join him in offering suggestions.
They even stated that if they were not supported, they would completely leave Formula 1 by the end of 2016, allowing Michelin to return to F1.
F1 President Bernie Ecclestone reacted strongly; this gray-haired old man was 100% unwilling for Michelin to join F1.
Besides these stressful topics, some pleasant things also happened in the paddock.
For example, both Vettel and Rosberg welcomed new family members.
Wu Shi also extended his congratulations to both drivers.
Speaking of Rosberg's daughter, Wu Shi also recalled some interesting anecdotes that happened later.
Rosberg's daughter was a Hamilton fan, and Hamilton would send Rosberg's daughter gifts every year.
Rosberg admitted this in an interview, but still stated that he and Hamilton had some unresolved issues.
Their relationship truly was strange and complex!
As the first race week of September arrived, all teams became thoroughly busy.
Team trucks drove into Monza one after another.
Before the race, Red Bull confirmed that both drivers would switch to new power units.
This resulted in Daniil Kvyat being penalized 30 grid places and Daniel Ricciardo 50 grid places.
One can only say it was less than the combined 105-place penalty for the two McLaren drivers.
McLaren again, again, again replaced their power units at this race, with Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso being penalized 5 and 10 times respectively.
In a pre-race interview, a reporter asked Wu Shi what he thought of the situation.
Wu Shi, with some difficulty in holding back, said: "In 2007, I saw McLaren competing for the Drivers' and Constructors' Championships. When I arrived in the paddock, I didn't expect them to be in such a difficult position."
Of course, to truly talk about McLaren's situation in 2007, one would have to bring up the "Spygate" incident.
Hmm, a bit sensitive.
In addition, Carlos Sainz Jr. also received a penalty for changing power unit components, incurring a 35-place grid penalty.
This season, teams primarily using Honda and Renault engines had already used up their normal number of changes early in the season.
So, in the second half of the season, if the power system failed, they basically followed the path of replacing parts and accepting penalties.
The Monza Circuit looks simple, and in reality, it is not difficult.
However, an uncomplicated track always tests a driver's attention to detail more.
Because the track's high-speed characteristics are still within Williams's comfort zone, tuning for the team would not be a major problem.
The only thing to consider is what to do after the main race begins.
In the previous race, Wu Shi demonstrated Williams's performance advantage on light fuel, so the strategy might need to focus more on how to set up for the latter half of the race.
However, the specific arrangements would still depend on the practice session results.