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Pit crews under pressure to give drivers an edge
Source: Agencies |
July 26, 2013, Friday
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FORMULA One for decades has been all about the cars and drivers. This year, pit crews are finally getting their due.
Desperate to gain an edge over their rivals and facing more stops due to tire troubles, teams are investing heavily in training and equipping their crews. The tops teams have almost cut their stops in half over the past two years. Red Bull claimed it clocked the fastest-ever stop five times at the Malaysian Grand Prix this year, reaching 2.05 seconds. The previous best was 2.3 seconds set by McLaren last year.
The increased speed has not come without costs. Several drivers have seen their races end when tires were not attached properly. Red Bull suffered that mishap at least twice this year - the last time in Germany when the right-rear tire from Mark Webber's car came off in the pits and hit a cameraman.
"Every time you come down the pit lane if you can be a second quicker that means with a three-stop strategy you will save three seconds of race time," said McLaren sporting director Sam Michael, whose team had the fastest pits stops for 10 races in a row last year.
"We are pretty much going two seconds quicker than what we were going two years ago. Typically a good stop was 4.5 seconds and now 2.5 seconds and two seconds is typical value," he said. "If you save one second, that is same as a car being one-tenth of a lap quicker for 10 laps."
Desperate to gain an edge over their rivals and facing more stops due to tire troubles, teams are investing heavily in training and equipping their crews. The tops teams have almost cut their stops in half over the past two years. Red Bull claimed it clocked the fastest-ever stop five times at the Malaysian Grand Prix this year, reaching 2.05 seconds. The previous best was 2.3 seconds set by McLaren last year.
The increased speed has not come without costs. Several drivers have seen their races end when tires were not attached properly. Red Bull suffered that mishap at least twice this year - the last time in Germany when the right-rear tire from Mark Webber's car came off in the pits and hit a cameraman.
"Every time you come down the pit lane if you can be a second quicker that means with a three-stop strategy you will save three seconds of race time," said McLaren sporting director Sam Michael, whose team had the fastest pits stops for 10 races in a row last year.
"We are pretty much going two seconds quicker than what we were going two years ago. Typically a good stop was 4.5 seconds and now 2.5 seconds and two seconds is typical value," he said. "If you save one second, that is same as a car being one-tenth of a lap quicker for 10 laps."
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