Using Mercedes as an example. Going from 1 to 4 or down the ladder. Shouldn’t its own car performance be AT LEAST as good as previous years?
What changes year to year that the data they have or previous winning cars cant be used?
Thanks 🙂
In: Engineering
Usually the cars are at least as good as last years car. If you compare lap times between years you see that they are getting quicker. However so are the other teams. So if you got pole position one year, and then improve the car, you may not get pole position next year. Because other teams may have improved even more.
In addition to this there are changes in the regulation. Some of these changes happen mid-season. For example the limit on lubrication oil loss in addition to the limit on fuel oil was introduced in the middle of the season and caused Mercedes cars to become significantly slower. Some minor changes are introduced between seasons to allow the teams to design new cars around the new regulations, for example minor changes to the wing shape. And major regulations are introduced with a few years interval and announced a year in advance. This was how Mercedes went from 1st to 3rd as regulations allowed for ground effect.
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