🔧 F1 Tech Show: Send us your questions for Gary Anderson!
Added 2024-12-11 16:02:25 +0000 UTCDo you have a burning technical question about the 2024 F1 season that you'd like Gary Anderson to answer?
Next week, in the final episode of The Race F1 Tech Show of 2024, Gary and Edd will be putting a bow on the season just gone by tackling YOUR tech questions.
Just drop your question in the comments section below, and Edd and Gary will do their best to get through as many as possible.
And don't worry if you've already sent a question to podcasts@the-race.com - we'll be including those too.
Comments
In broad terms, McLaren seemed stronger towards the end of stints but weaker off the starting blocks. Were both a function of the same (overly?) gentle tire treatment, and if so how might they preserve the former while solving the latter?
Vin Narayan
2024-12-12 22:00:08 +0000 UTCThanks Ed and Gary for providing us with great insights from the present and the past. I always love listening. Red Bull had mastered the art of aero platform control for the first two years of these regulations with their suspension with long travel range. The car was smooth over the bumps and able to produce consistent downforce with not so extreme low ride heights. How did they get it so wrong? Suddenly the car became disconnected between Front and rear and the drivers said they needed to run it very stiff. Whats your take on this? Contrary mclaren seemed to produce a ever more potent challenger which rides smooth and is generally better balanced. What did they do and what can other teams learn from them? Thanks again, looking forward to your next Shows.
Ben
2024-12-12 20:54:43 +0000 UTCHi Gary, thanks for being a great technical head that we can ask questions about F1. People are classifying McLaren's Constructors win as a customer win, I get that, but how much is there to be gained or lost in today's F1 engines from the individual arrangement and setup of items such as radiators and even electrical circuitry? Historically customer teams wouldn't have had as much collaboration with an engine manufacturer as today, I am curious if there is any benefit outside of improving the aero platform shape compared to previous eras, where you really had to have that works deal to get the best possible engine. To be honest, I feel that Jordan's 1998-1999 efforts with the Mugen Honda package have more credence as a 'privateer' car/engine combo; lower budget, works but not a maximum works budget. Funny how the world works with Aston Martin and Honda linking up in 2026...
Alexander Law
2024-12-12 12:14:58 +0000 UTCAs engine development has been restricted in the past few years, has that allowed customer teams to focus on aero development rather than worrying about engine packaging so resulted in a customer constructor win? Will engine development opening up in '26 mean a customer win will become almost impossible again?
Ed R Gaming
2024-12-12 10:45:46 +0000 UTCUnsure how diplomatic Edd and Gary will be on this, but let’s just say that rumour came about thanks to some very inaccurate reporting somewhere 🤫
The Race
2024-12-12 09:25:07 +0000 UTCHow does a team like Alpine, who started the season around 10kg too heavy, find weight savings through in-season upgrades? Presumably they have the same materials at their disposal as they do when the season started, so what can they actually improve? Is it the fabrication process? Or are they finding ways to achieve the same safety and performance levels with designs that have less material?
Edmund Kump
2024-12-11 22:09:19 +0000 UTCI’ve been thinking a lot about Fernando Alonso and his comments on the current Aston Martin car at the Abu Dhabi GP, this is certainly not the first time in his career he has choice words to say about the car he is driving but I wonder how much of the cars problems are down to him. My question is, is it possible for a driver to be “bad” at developing a car with the team and ultimately how much effect does the drivers input in developing a car have on its ultimate pace. Hope this makes sense!
Declan Machin
2024-12-11 19:03:22 +0000 UTCA huge part of McLaren’s championship success has to be down to their amazing reliability as the only top team without a significant mechanical failure. How do teams from a process and engineering perspective tackle reliability and ensure they’re not sacrificing performance for the sake of more durable components?
Brandon H
2024-12-11 18:43:59 +0000 UTCWould you be surprised if any of the teams lower in the standings produce a new concept in the last year of these regs in 2025 to roll the dice?
Andy
2024-12-11 17:24:35 +0000 UTCThe Legal Beagle Gary, thank's for all the great insights on 2024! Looking forward to listening in the new year. You have discussed wind tunnel testing a lot, but I wonder - do the teams use the actual full size car to do all that wind tunnel testing, or is someone on each of the teams assigned to make models? If it's the full size cars, do they build a third car that they can leave in the wind tunnel, or do they roll the actual cars in and out of the wind tunnel all the time? If they use models, do they 3D print them, or do they cast them or use some other method? I would assume that the models would need to be accurate in order to get meaningful data.
Gabriel White
2024-12-11 17:12:00 +0000 UTCWhat did Alpine do around the USGP that transformed the car so much? There’s no doubt in my mind their constructors championship position was very much flattered by circumstances falling their way, but over the last several races Gasly especially had the pace to qualify in the top 10 and cause problems for the top teams when he got ahead. While not at the level of McLaren mid-last year, it’s still a remarkable turnaround
Max Camposano
2024-12-11 16:36:17 +0000 UTCSauber had the slowest car on average over the 24 season. If the other 9 teams had frozen development from round 1, how far up the grid would sauber be by the end of the season if their development was aloud to continue?
callum smith
2024-12-11 16:30:53 +0000 UTCBefore the season began there was much speculation about Red Bull introducing a 'zero sidepod' concept - unless i missed something, I don't think this ever materialised. So was this simply a huge bluff by Red Bull to distract their rivals, or did they genuinely investigate the concept and decided not to follow through with it?
Stuart Coulter
2024-12-11 16:26:13 +0000 UTCGary, thank you for putting in the time to answer all of the questions posed. Having watched the 1,000 by monsters of the mid-80s, how were the Goodyear tyres able to last entire races with the limited downforce levels they had compared to today’s cars? Were the Goodyear (and Pirellis when they made appearances) rock hard compared to the compounds used today or is it something more fundamental (thermal degradation by design notwithstanding)? To everyone at The Race, have a great Christmas and a prosperous, successful 2025.
Oscar Robledo
2024-12-11 16:22:58 +0000 UTC
