Ask The Apex

As a matter of interest (and not wishing to create a forum war), how many penalties/steward visits did Hamilton incur during his GP2 career.

If anyone can answer that, and depending on the answer, it might just clear up a lot of perceptions :dunno:
 
At one point today the BBC's timing graphics gave times instead of the usual "+3 laps" (or whatever) for the lapped drivers - I was amused by Ricciardo's time difference from Vettel being something like 1236.xxx seconds - and he ended up with +14 laps.

What is the largest number of times that a tail-end driver has been lapped by the leader?
 
jenov2003 said:
As a matter of interest (and not wishing to create a forum war), how many penalties/steward visits did Hamilton incur during his GP2 career.

If anyone can answer that, and depending on the answer, it might just clear up a lot of perceptions :dunno:
Click to expand

This is the Wiki entry on his GP2 season

GP2

Due to his success in Formula Three, he moved to ASM's sister GP2 team ART Grand Prix for 2006.[53] Just like their sister team in F3, ART were the leaders of the field and reigning champions having taken the 2005 GP2 crown with Nico Rosberg.[54] Hamilton won the GP2 championship at his first attempt, beating Nelson Piquet, Jr. and Timo Glock.
His performances included a dominant win at the Nürburgring, despite serving a penalty for speeding in the pit lane. At his home race at Silverstone, supporting the British Grand Prix, Hamilton overtook two rivals at Becketts, a series of high-speed (up to 150 mph in a GP2 car) bends where overtaking is rare. In Istanbul he recovered from a spin that left him in eighteenth place to take second position in the final corners. He won the title in unusual circumstances, inheriting the final point he needed after Giorgio Pantano was stripped of fastest lap in the Monza feature race. In the sprint race, though he finished second with Piquet sixth, he finished twelve points clear of his rival.[55]
His 2006 GP2 championship coincided with a vacancy at McLaren following the departure of Juan Pablo Montoya to NASCAR and Kimi Räikkönen to Ferrari.[56][57] After months of speculation on whether Hamilton, Pedro de la Rosa or Gary Paffett would be paired with defending champion Fernando Alonso for 2007, Hamilton was confirmed as the team's second driver.[58] He was told of McLaren's decision on 30 September, but the news was not made public until 24 November, for fear that it would be overshadowed by Michael Schumacher's retirement announcement.[59]
Click to expand

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Hamilton#GP2

Not sure if that helps or not...
 
Brogan said:
I'm not sure how many times he was lapped, but Skip Barber was classified NC +56 laps in the 1972 Canadian GP.
Click to expand
Woah, what happened? Did he blow up after a lap or two, and his engineers spent the whole race fixing up his car to send him out for another couple of laps at the end? Or was he driving a steamroller? :)

I didn't see whether Ricciardo kept going for the whole time, or whether he had some abnormally long stops...
 
Just to clear up. Ricciardo spent about 10 laps in the pits after not only being wheeled in at the start but also stopping again 2 laps after that. I get the feeling that HRT just decided to use it as an extended test - and who can blame them?
 
What are the pro's and cons of a long and short wheel base?

What advantage do McLaren get from there long wheel bases?

I have seen comments suggesting that a short wheel base gives more mechanical/aero grip and a long wheel base increases speed. Is that correct? Can anyone shed any light on this?
 
downforce said:
What are the pro's and cons of a long and short wheel base?
Click to expand

Any design is only as good as the designers, but the basic principle is this:

The long wheelbase is better aerodynamically, as you've got more opportunity to 'direct' the airflow across the car, keep it attached and point it at the downforce-producing devices. Essentially the longer time the air is spent passing over, under and through the car, the more you can do with it. This should make your car better in fast, long corners, and may have a very small drag benefit too.

The short wheelbase is better in short-duration turns and better in traction. This is a mechanical benefit - consider the relative turning circles of a Mini and a stretch limousine. The car should be more responsive and easier to get back on the power early at the exit of a turn. Someone with an engineering degree can probably explain it better (centripetal forces?) but hopefully it makes sense intuitively.

So in theory you'd want the long wheelbase car at Spa, and the short at Monaco, for example. As you will appreciate, of course, the wheelbase is only a small part of a much bigger equation (the shortest car isn't necessarily the quickest at Monaco in reality).
 
Ahh thanks that explains a bit, so the long wheel base on the McLaren would (in part) explain why they had better race pace than Red-Bull in Tukey 2010 but slower at Monaco 2010?

I guess it would also explain why Hamilton suddenly had so much pace in the race at Suzuk last year
 
Ill try and stp going on about wheel bases in a mo, 1 last thing - if a short wheel base gives more traction would that explain why Red-Bull are better at race starts than McLaren?
 
downforce said:
Ahh thanks that explains a bit, so the long wheel base on the McLaren would (in part) explain why they had better race pace than Red-Bull in Tukey 2010 but slower at Monaco 2010?

I guess it would also explain why Hamilton suddenly had so much pace in the race at Suzuk last year
Click to expand

It would be part of the reason, but not the whole story. Regardless of the configuration that is chosen, it can still be done well, or badly.

downforce said:
Ill try and stp going on about wheel bases in a mo, 1 last thing - if a short wheel base gives more traction would that explain why Red-Bull are better at race starts than McLaren?
Click to expand

I don't believe so, in this context I'm talking more about traction on corner exits rather than in a straight line.
 
In addition the longer wheelbase provides better straight line stability at high speeds with the car being less "twitchy". Apart from that Galahad has nailed it nicely.
 
I believe so, yes, and possibly more stable during hard acceleration. There is a 'but'. As with all things F1 there are other factors at play, such as weight distribution, aero and brake balance, etc. One of the issues with a longer wheel base (Galahad alluded to this) is that the car is more prone to understeer, particularly on entry to tighter turns, so there will always be compromises. Gains from straight-line stability can lead to losses in cornering response.Therefore, although a long wheelbase car may be more stable under braking more speed needs to be shaken off - enough to avoid "washing out" - on entry to a turn. Not a problem (again as Galahad notes) on long corners but a pain in the rear through the tight stuff.

Gets complex, don't it?
 

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