How much difference does this?

Ignis Fatuus · Post 17 Jun 2006, 19:04

I've read this comment on the damage of Montoya's car at the start of the British Grand Prix by Martin Whitmarsh:

"There was a little bit of damage [from the Villeneuve collision]. It unsettles the driver when you take quite a hard knock like that, but nothing that was untoward or had a dramatic effect during the race."

I can't help myself thinking - after all I've heard about "aero efficiency" and so on, that this had to have some "untoward" effect on the car:

What do you think?

PS: Please don't be too harsh on me, I don't know much about aerodynamics. In fact, I studied medieval history, which doesn't help me much when it comes to F1.

Spencifer_Murphy · Post 17 Jun 2006, 19:10

Well being a bit of a JPM fan I'd love to say "it cost him the race!!!" lol, but realistically that sort of damage could have upset the cooling (however telemetry showed this was not the case) so the only effect is some aero inbalance.

Effectively if we call the car 100% undamaged Monty was driving a car at what was 94%. You could argue it was worse as it effects the airflow to the rear wing and what-not, but his lap times didnt seem to plummet THAT much so I doubt this was the case.

Ignis Fatuus · Post 17 Jun 2006, 22:23

but his lap times didnt seem to plummet THAT much

Well we can't compare the lap times with "could be" laptimes. It happened in the first corner... Maybe he could get over Heidfeld and maybe not, and then he had to "conserve his engine" (I really hate the two engine rule

).

But it still surprises me that this hole supposedly was not "untoward".

Why they fuss so much about the details then?

Tom · Post 18 Jun 2006, 20:29

Surely it would help cooling?

Spencifer_Murphy · Post 19 Jun 2006, 18:05

Ignis Fatuus wrote:
but his lap times didnt seem to plummet THAT much
Well we can't compare the lap times with "could be" laptimes. It happened in the first corner... Maybe he could get over Heidfeld and maybe not, and then he had to "conserve his engine" (I really hate the two engine rule ).

But it still surprises me that this hole supposedly was not "untoward".
Why they fuss so much about the details then?

I was reffering to his fastest laps in the race against his laps in practice and Quali.

RH1300S · Post 19 Jun 2006, 18:45

Well, if screwing up Fisi's car by 0.5mm (half mm!) ride height messed up his qualy pace, that has to make some measurable difference. It may be a tiny measure, but it has to have some effect.

Of course it may make cooling better or worse or even not change it at all - sometimes (often?) you see the radiators sited in separate ducts within the sidepods, so perhaps this would only "expose" pipes & cables etc. without actually affecting the flow through the duct itself.