Keeping up the pace
The pace of Formula One development is relentless. Since the launch of Midland F1's car, the M16, in early February the team has been working hard to find more speed, better reliability, and yet more speed.
Despite the media predicting the form book based on pre-season testing, the first competitive race of the season is always the first real indicator of where every team is in the performance stakes. Midland F1 have made steady progress since that first race in Bahrain, but then so has the rest of the Formula One grid.
We decided to ask Midland F1 Technical Director, James Key a few questions about how the team is planning to reach its performance targets and catch everyone else.
In general terms, how much better is this year’s M16 than last year’s EJ15B?"We had a significant gap to the runners ahead last year, which was in the region of around 2 seconds in most cases. It goes without saying that this is a significant gap to close; basically, we have to develop faster than all the bigger teams ahead of us to catch up. However, the M16 has made a lot of headway in this respect. The EJ15B’s development was about as far as we could push that car without any significant re-design, so the M16 has offered us the opportunity to make bigger steps. From the outset, we have been much closer to the teams in front, and with recent developments, our times have come even closer. We just need to make similar steps again this season to start consistently mixing with them. Looking at our race times from Barcelona, the M16 was very close compared to our V10-engined EJ15 from last year. In fact, we were closer to last year’s times than all other teams, with the exception of Toro Rosso (which is not really a valid comparison to last year’s Minardi)."
With specific reference to Super Aguri, why are their cars so much quicker at the start than the M16s?"I think the Super Aguri cars are above average with their starts, as they usually seem to make up a number of places off the line. It could be that they have had some help from Honda or design their strategy around maximising the starts and compromising performance elsewhere. This is the only performance advantage those cars have over the others right now. Looking at the last two races, we are similar to the cars around us. A check on the Nurburgring start up to Turn 1 confirms that, but right now we need to improve further."
Does the team have any plans to further develop the M16's start performance?"Yes, as I said, we have to protect our track position off the line and be more aggressive. We have more work to carry out on our start optimization, which we hope to do after Monaco. There are still a number of aspects regarding the way in which we operate our starts that we know should improve the situation, although track testing is the only way to confirm this. What is certain is that provided we hold station, then we should be in a position to run with the rest of the field and start making better use of our race strategies. A look at race lap times when we have some space shows that."
More so at the start of the season than now, the Super Aguris were impossible to pass unless they made a mistake. Why is that?"They don't have much downforce so I assume they have less drag as well."
Looking to the next race at Monaco, where grid slot is vitally important and overtaking next to impossible, what developments do Midland F1 have planned to cater for this unique venue?"You’re right, in that Monaco is very much a special case that requires the car to be set up completely differently. Typically, it is possible to run very inefficient downforce so we will be running at maximum downforce with the addition of some new aero components. The bumpy surface and tight corners require a soft mechanical setup and maybe a shift in weight distribution. As well, the soft tyres run at Monaco tend toward an understeer balance, so we will be looking at ways of overcoming that while still looking after the rear tyres. We have some suspension modifications which will be introduced for Monaco, some of which will be carrying through as permanent development. Toyota are continuing their good development rate and have provided us with another step on the engine for Monaco."
Taking into account the overall pace of the M16, which area is receiving the most technical emphasis, and how much time could potentially be gained?"Aerodynamics always has the highest priority for outright performance, and the aero team is working hard in our wind tunnel to find further gains. We have, however, identified a number of other areas not related to aerodynamics where we feel we can improve, primarily low speed corner balance and consistency, which requires chassis and control system development work to improve. In terms of lap time, it is not always possible to say and very track dependant."
Looking further foward to Silverstone and what is for the factory-based staff a home Grand Prix, does the team have anything special planned for the car?"Obviously, Silverstone is a track that is very well known to us. Like some of the other cars, we were flat through Copse (Turn 1) in testing recently, which certainly was not the case with the V10 cars of previous years. In some ways, the situation has changed from what we are used to. We have a few further small developments which we hope to have at Silverstone, whereas the next major upgrade is planned for later in June, with a front suspension update."
Back to the next race in Monaco, are there any advantages over the rest of the field that Midland F1 and M16 can take to this race?"Monaco is always an event where anything could happen. We have had a couple of setbacks this year, but by and large our reliability record is still very good. Provided we take a sensible approach to the race and maintain our good reliability, there could be points for the taking at the end."
