Q: After thoroughly enjoying the race in Saudi Arabia, I have a couple of questions: 1) Please describe F1’s current energy harvesting system. Where on track is energy generally harvested and where is it generally used to boost horsepower? Are both the harvesting and energy use under the driver’s control or automatic, and do the rear lights flash during both harvesting and use? Do you know if IndyCar’s future hybrid system will be similar? 2) In watching Alpine’s in-car cameras and listening to their associated radio transmissions, I can see Entry, Mid and Exit settings on the steering wheel display and can hear engineers giving commands to change settings “Entry 8, Exit 12,” etc.  What is it they are changing on the cars?

Brad Cloud, Missoula, MT

CHRIS MEDLAND: If I make it extremely general, the energy is usually harvested under braking — or at least deceleration when off-throttle — and then deployed in the big acceleration zones that lead onto long straights, as that gives the most value for the extra horsepower. However, there are two energy recovery systems — the MGU-H (which recovers energy from exhaust gases) and the MGU-K (which recovers energy from the wheels) — so they can harvest at different times.

Energy is stored in the aptly-named Energy Store (ES) and mapping allows deployment to be automatic based on the throttle trace, but drivers can manually choose when to deploy to help them in race battles. Sometimes this leads to the energy in the ES getting depleted and so they’ll have a spell charging it again, which is when they can be vulnerable.

The lights are only used to show when a car is harvesting as that tends to be at the end of straights when they would be accelerating more slowly than if they were deploying the extra energy, and the lights are a warning to avoid the following driver being caught out by the closing speeds.

In terms of IndyCar’s future system, I’m not sure — you’ll have to ask MP about that one!

And the Alpine question shows just how complex F1 cars are to drive, but those messages tend to relate to the differential settings to aid the car’s handling. As the fuel load burns off, the tires start to wear and track grip changes, the car will handle differently and the diff can be adjusted to help combat changes in handling and traction.

Q: Has Pietro Fittipaldi ruined his career by being a Haas test driver?  Why wasn’t he allowed to drive, first for Nikita Mazepin, and then for Mick Schumacher? What is the point of being the backup if you get passed over when the opportunity is there?  

Vincent Martinez, South Pasadena, CA 

CM: I wouldn’t say he’s ruined his career by any stretch, in fact he’s made himself a valuable part of an F1 team. But his lack of experience hurt him when Haas could go for an experienced replacement for Mazepin in the form of Kevin Magnussen. Guenther Steiner said it would have been Pietro if not Kevin, and while he’s highly-rated by the team I’m not certain if that’s true or just paying lip service.

If you mean why wasn’t he able to replace Mazepin in Abu Dhabi and Schumacher in Jeddah, that’s because of F1’s rules. A driver has to have completed at least one practice session (qualifying counts) during the race weekend to be allowed to start the race. It’s not targeted at Fittipaldi, just a general regulation to ensure every driver starting the race have proven themselves competitive enough for that specific event.

This is what “paying your dues” looks like. Carl Bingham/Motorsport Images

Q: With F1 announcing a race on the streets of Las Vegas, it reminds me of reasons why they said they could never race at Road America.

Years ago, probably on “Wind Tunnel,” I remember Robin saying how the first thing that would have to be done is spend millions to upgrade the Road America’s entire paddock to F1’s liking. Additionally, there was something about having to move the railroad tracks that run parallel to the track from the area of the kink down to turn 12 because they were too close to the track.

Maybe that’s no longer the case, but now the series is just going to build a temporary street circuit on the Las Vegas strip and surrounding streets and the safety standards will be met?

Granted, Elkhart Lake isn’t Las Vegas and I’m sure there are hundreds of reasons they’d never race there, but that just seems weird to me.

Dave von Falkenstein, Janesville, WI

CM: The safety standards of anywhere a race takes place are complex, but the track layout in Vegas will have been designed with that in mind. Long straights end at intersections with big run-offs that will be built in, specific barriers are used, angles of corners and barrier placements are all taken into account in the circuit design — in the same way it is when IndyCar races on street courses and they don’t use have a solid concrete wall waiting at the end of a straight.

There are specific regulations to be met to race Grade 1 (F1-standard) status, and for some older circuits there is infrastructure in place — like the railroad tracks you mention – that can’t be moved.

The garages and paddock are also a major issue at many existing tracks, plus some of these safety changes would then ruin the character of the circuit for the rest of the time it’s used, and that’s not a price worth paying in my opinion.

Q: I read your story about Zak Brown’s comments about Monaco improving its commercial aspects to compete with Miami (Miami Gardens by a stadium, to be correct), and Vegas to stay on the calendar, not the historical aspect of it. Additionally, I have seen other stories and tweets along the same lines talking about how historical significance shouldn’t keep you on the schedule. I take it those comments are aimed at Monaco and Spa. Specifically, Monaco is pain because the streets are only so wide (maybe these cars shouldn’t be a wide as tanks ¯\_(ツ)_/¯), but I’m not sure what Spa’s deal would be, especially with all of the reworking that’s been going on to the track over the past year. Is this purely a sanctioning fee as their deals are coming up and wanting more from each, or are there other factors that would put these tracks into a ‘rotation’? 

Chris Damato

CM: You’ve almost answered your own question. All venues need to be commercially viable, especially at a time when F1’s popularity is growing and there is demand from other venues to host a race. Just like any sport, F1 is a business and needs to make money, and while nobody is saying all of these tracks have to pay the exact same race-hosting fee, they do need to provide value in multiple ways.

As you mentioned with Monaco, the sport has changed so much that the cars have outgrown the venue, and while smaller cars would definitely help, I’m actually OK with that as long as the challenge is unique. What’s wrong with one race a year being all but decided by qualifying, when you have 23 in total? But Monaco doesn’t pay a race-hosting fee, so while it gets incredible exposure as a venue around the world, it doesn’t pay for that privilege when other tracks do. 2020 has shown that while F1 wants to be racing in Monaco, it doesn’t have to at any cost.

Spa needed to make those improvements to make the track safe for F1, but it still also needs to be able to pay a hosting fee that the sport deems valuable enough in the current climate. Don’t forget that iconic old tracks like Zandvoort and Imola have been able to do that, partly due to ticket sales/fan base and partly due to government funding for the exposure to the region and boost to the local economy each race provides. By having races that don’t do the same, you reduce your ability to get the best deal because new tracks point to a Monaco and say they don’t pay a fee, so that’s the tightrope F1 walks from a commercial point of view.

Some of it is definitely posturing from F1 to ensure these races don’t just bank on their history and fail to keep up with the times, but there are also so many places wanting to host a race they can afford to play that game.

THE FINAL WORD
From Robin Miller’s Mailbag, April 4, 2018

Q: Was the St. Pete’s race last season? Way too long between races. Hopefully IndyCar fixes this huge gap in the schedule. Need to keep the momentum going. I also think IndyCar could add a few more races. Bring back Cleveland, MIS and Fontana.

Blue Lou

ROBIN MILLER: OK, repeat after me: Fontana only wants a race in October and that’s not likely to happen. Cleveland needs a title sponsor. MIS has zero interest to my knowledge. But you are right, the early and mid-summer gaps need to be filled. Or, start later.