I'll be preparing for Monza on the simulator - Buemi

F1 Grand Prix, GP Italy, Autodromo Nazionale di Monza

The testing ban has seen teams speed up the development of simulators to help drivers prepare for upcoming races. Sébastien Buemi tells us what it’s like to play with a really expensive computer game.

Sebastian Buemi: “I’ll be in Milton Keynes on Tuesday (tomorrow), preparing for Monza on the simulator – Jaime’s having a go in the morning and I’m doing the afternoon. Last year there were three days testing at Monza, so this will be the next best thing. The simulator is very realistic and after Monza, I’ll be back to try out Singapore and Japan tracks too, as I don’t know them very well. The way it works is that you sit in the cockpit of an F1 car, which moves around and you’re surrounded by an enormous screen and you really feel you are driving on track. The car reacts exactly like a real one, shaking you about as you go through the corners. You work just as you would on a race track and after driving a few laps you “come in” and ask for adjustments to the car settings just as you would at a race weekend. On top of that, you can also help the simulator engineers by telling them if something does not feel quite right, like the weight of the steering for example. Because it’s not real, you can really attack hard, going to the limit and over it, because if you crash, you can’t hurt yourself. Even though you know that, it still feels a bit strange if you go off the track! In next week’s session, the simulator will be set up to replicate Monza, so not only do you see that track, but the car will be set-up to suit it, which in this case means running with minimum aerodynamic downforce to deal with the highspeed nature of the track. That’s particularly useful, as Monza is the only track that requires so little downforce and it is something we have not been able to experience so far this season. It means the car feels very light under braking and you have to be careful when you apply the throttle again. You can simulate these conditions and get a feel for it before getting to the real race track.”