Clip The Xmas 
Rather than guff on about the problems (?) at McLaren, Verstappen's sudden dash for the title, or the moderate resurgence of Ferrari, in the USA at least, let's talk altitude.
Mexico city is at an altitude of 2,240 metres, or 7,350ft in old money. During the F1 weekend we will hear lots of talk about the "thin air", and engines not being able to "breathe" in the same way. But what actually is the problem? The air we breathe is made up of different gases. Roughly 78% is nitrogen, 21% is oxygen, and the rest is other gases like CO2, helium, methane and others.
As altitude increases this mix of gases doesn't change. However, at sea level gravity pulls air molecules closer together. The higher you go, the less the effect of gravity and the density reduces. A more practical way to explain this is to think of air as a liquid, and then think of the Titan submersible. The lower in went in to the sea the more pressure there was on it's hull as the gravitational effect was higher and the sea above exerted more pressure until it went pop.
So if you were to inflate a balloon at sea level and then carry it up a mountain, assuming none of the gas could escape the balloon would slowly expand.
Now what does this do to an F1 engine? For a normally aspirated engine, lower air density would mean less power as there is less oxygen per cubic centimeter of air being drawn into the engine. And it's the oxygen which is needed to make the fuel go bang. However, the engines in modern F1 cars have turbochargers, and the purpose of a turbocharger is to increase the pressure of the air feeding in to the cylinders. Not a problem then? But no, the turbocharger has to work harder to compress the less dense air, meaning it is put under greater stress and runs hotter. Also, turbochargers use an intercooler to reduce the air temperature before it goes in to the cylinder, and cooling this air is more difficult due to the lower air density. This also means that other cooling systems, such as the radiators, are less efficient, and the engines will run hotter, making them more likely to fail. Unfortunately, modern F1 cars are still very reliable, even at altitude.
There are other effect on F1 cars due to the lower air density. The aerodynamics designed to push the car down on to the track are less effective in the corners, but when the cars accelerate and run down a long straight, the resistance is lower. Last year Charles le Clerc topped the speed traps at just over 350 kmh or 217.5 mph. That means the car covers 100 metres in a little over 1 second.
So there's my preview of the Mexican GP. Here are the timings of the Sky coverage. Enjoy.
Mexico city is at an altitude of 2,240 metres, or 7,350ft in old money. During the F1 weekend we will hear lots of talk about the "thin air", and engines not being able to "breathe" in the same way. But what actually is the problem? The air we breathe is made up of different gases. Roughly 78% is nitrogen, 21% is oxygen, and the rest is other gases like CO2, helium, methane and others.
As altitude increases this mix of gases doesn't change. However, at sea level gravity pulls air molecules closer together. The higher you go, the less the effect of gravity and the density reduces. A more practical way to explain this is to think of air as a liquid, and then think of the Titan submersible. The lower in went in to the sea the more pressure there was on it's hull as the gravitational effect was higher and the sea above exerted more pressure until it went pop.
So if you were to inflate a balloon at sea level and then carry it up a mountain, assuming none of the gas could escape the balloon would slowly expand.
Now what does this do to an F1 engine? For a normally aspirated engine, lower air density would mean less power as there is less oxygen per cubic centimeter of air being drawn into the engine. And it's the oxygen which is needed to make the fuel go bang. However, the engines in modern F1 cars have turbochargers, and the purpose of a turbocharger is to increase the pressure of the air feeding in to the cylinders. Not a problem then? But no, the turbocharger has to work harder to compress the less dense air, meaning it is put under greater stress and runs hotter. Also, turbochargers use an intercooler to reduce the air temperature before it goes in to the cylinder, and cooling this air is more difficult due to the lower air density. This also means that other cooling systems, such as the radiators, are less efficient, and the engines will run hotter, making them more likely to fail. Unfortunately, modern F1 cars are still very reliable, even at altitude.
There are other effect on F1 cars due to the lower air density. The aerodynamics designed to push the car down on to the track are less effective in the corners, but when the cars accelerate and run down a long straight, the resistance is lower. Last year Charles le Clerc topped the speed traps at just over 350 kmh or 217.5 mph. That means the car covers 100 metres in a little over 1 second.
So there's my preview of the Mexican GP. Here are the timings of the Sky coverage. Enjoy.
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