basti313 wrote: ↑19 Aug 2024, 16:05
But at least this idea would work with the brake fire theory...but not sure if it makes sense to work backwards from a possibly normal failure...
There are many coincidental part failures in F1.
Mclaren (Norris) had a right rear brake meltdown in the 2019 Canadian GP. Williams had a similar single side failure at Imola in 2022. Ferrari in Bahrain this year experienced a 100 degree brake temperature separation issue.
It was impossible in the first 15 laps, the issue was getting a lot worse every lap," Leclerc said. "I was obviously basing my braking for Turn 9-10 with the previous lap, which obviously fell too late all the time, but the issue was getting a lot worse.
"Every time I would brake three meters earlier, but I would still look up, then at lap 15 or 20, the issue stabilised.
"The team told me on the radio that it was more than 100 degrees split between from front right and front left, which is huge.
The truth is that you can patch together a lot of circumstantial evidence to paint any picture. It's very easy to do. I could use this race in Bahrain to speculate.
1) How can you develop a 100 degree brake temperature imbalance between left and right front, on both cars, unless the brake forces are asymmetric? Did a valve "get stuck"?
2) Why does Leclerc keep around 10% throttle application in the low speed corners, when he is using the brakes? This is something that Coulthard said they were doing in 1997 with the Mclaren, to prevent wheel lockup when the "third brake" system was working.
3) Ferrari was better than anyone in the tight low speed corners since 2022. They won Monaco...
4) Ferrari also had a relative performance loss compared to Mclaren and Mercedes (just as Red Bull did).
I do not think Ferrari is guilty of anything (I have no way to know). I'm just showing how you can string unrelated events together to suit any narrative, when in fact the explanations for problems can belong to other factors entirely. Ferrari doesn't have a target on their backs, so you will never see their "evidence" strung together the way I have done.
A lion must kill its prey.