Part III: What Happens On (And Off) the Track in Visual Studio .NET

Generate USS Code 39 in Visual Studio .NET Part III: What Happens On (And Off) the Track

giving a massive advantage to those late in the running order Due to bad weather, the warm-up at the British Grand Prix was heavily delayed a few years ago, and in the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix the race started under a Safety Car, but qualifying has never been affected and this random factor is part and parcel of the new qualifying format introduced for the 2003 season

A team may accept a lower grid position than possible Basically teams would do so in one of two situations: The race team decides that its best race strategy involves a heavy fuel load and that the disadvantage a heavy load brings in qualifying will be more than made up for during the race This strategy is feasible only at tracks where overtaking isn t too difficult A driver has qualified so badly that the team reasons it would be better to start him from the pit lane Opting for a pit lane start after all the others have reached the first corner allows the team the option of changing its fuel load something that it can t do if it starts from the grid If everyone else had opted for a two fuel stops so that their cars were lighter during qualifying, going for one fuel stop is theoretically the quickest way to complete the race and could put you on a better strategy than everyone else Of course, the benefit of starting from pit lane could outweigh that of starting from the grid only if you had qualified a long way down the grid and had little to lose

At the end of Saturday qualifying a sheet showing the provisional grid positions is published It is provisional while the cars are checked over to ensure they comply with weight and tyre regulations Once this has been confirmed a final grid will be issued By this time the drivers will be well into their debrief with their engineers, logging the behaviour of the car and making final plans for the following day s race strategy A few hours later they ll be sleeping, ready to be in peak shape for the climax of the weekend the race itself

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Planning a pit stop and tyre strategy Overtaking other cars on the race track Keeping them behind you when you have overtaken Coping with the curved balls of circumstance

inning a Formula One race is only partly about being the fastest driver on the day or having the fastest car, or both It s also a fiendishly complex game of strategy, and superior race strategy can even give you victory over a faster rival A great example of this is Michael Schumacher s performance in 1995, when he repeatedly took his Benetton to nine wins and the World Championship by employing better strategies than his chief rival Damon Hill in a faster Williams car Two elements usually determine a strategy those that are planned and those that are opportunistic The pre-planned strategy takes into account the particular characteristics of a track and the car Where the driver has qualified to start the race also affects pre-planned strategy Unforeseen circumstances in a race, such as a safety car period (see Safety Car later in this chapter), or the positioning of backmarkers, or the actions of a rival, can change the optimum strategy This is why team strategists are employed; they have to recognise when such opportunities arise and act on them before the window of opportunity is lost The complex matrix that defines the ultimate strategy for a driver on a Grand Prix Sunday is explained here Don t get the idea from this that a Grand Prix is all about maths at the expense of driver skill and inspiration On the receiving end of another Schumacher beating in that 1995 season just referred to, Williams technical director Patrick Head was asked to comment on his driver Hill s assertion that the team had lost him seven seconds in the pits to Schumacher Head replied: Yes, but what about the other 43 seconds