Formula 1 is the excellence of motorsports, with the fastest single-seaters on the planet in which 20 brave men venture every weekend challenging death at more than 300 km/h.
Although many who do not know what the category is think that this is not a sport, the reality is that to drive this type of car you need a physical preparation more typical of a superhero than of an ordinary human.
However, not everything is training the muscles, since the pilots must have privileged minds to handle and manage all the operations that they have to carry out during a race.
An example of this is the warm-up lap procedure that each member of the select grid does, that is, the moment of tension in which they prepare to have the car ready.
Through the cameras provided by F1TV , the subscription platform that Formula 1 has available to all users with a live and on-demand broadcast from the onboard cameras of the single-seaters, we were able to see what this moment is like for Fernando Alonso and his Alpine.
In this case, we will see what the two-time champion did during his turn to the starting grid at the Australian Grand Prix, where he started from tenth place, although he was even fighting for pole position.
After chatting with his engineers about the race strategy, the man from Oviedo got into the cockpit, something that preceded the tightening of the belts that secure his body.
As the mechanics are leaving the grid, a team member hands him the steering wheel , which is attached to the steering column. This is where it seems that the sensors turn on and, in the Alpine, the screen shows the logo of the French team and some parameters that are only known within Enstone.
Alonso, shortly after, makes sure that the quick-release of the rim, that is, the mechanism that allows the steering wheel to be released quickly to leave the cockpit, is locked, at the same time that he presses the clutch twice to check that the paddles work. as it should.
Once the gloves are put on, the Spaniard practices the movement in which he releases the clutch so that it comes out automatically when the traffic lights go out, knowing exactly where the bite point is.
The detail that can be seen on the steering wheel is that the clutch lever is at 38% , something that corresponds so that the wheels do not skid and have the optimal grip when starting, or what is the same, so that it does not very aggressive action.
Another thing that draws attention is that Alonso activates the pitlane limiter to be able to practice the start again, since the FIA prohibits exceeding the speed of the pit lane until the pole position place has been passed, with which will be impossible to go over 80km/h.
The mechanics remove the blankets from the tires and leave the protagonists alone, just as the two-time champion recalibrates the clutch once he puts the first gear and reduces back to neutral.
All this process is done to have the systems ready to help the A522 start off, minimizing the risk of skidding and losing positions at the moment of truth. The race director allows the cars to start with the setup lap, and the drivers make the usual jerky side-to-side movements to warm up the tires and brakes, but the real fun comes when they approach their starting positions.
On arrival at the grid, the Alpine driver activates the BURN mode at the exit of the last corner to perform the well-known burnouts or skids to raise the temperature of the tires, although at the end he presses an orange button called BO , which brings up BURN mode again.
In principle, this system locks the differential to ensure that the rear compounds have the same temperature, minimizing the number of turns they make on themselves.
When Alonso arrives at his starting point, he activates the balance of the brakes to select -1.0% , which makes the braking pressure force compensate in the way the driver wants and make the first corner as he wants, although always there is a risk of blocking the tires in the event of unforeseen events.
Now all that remains is to focus on the ability to react to the traffic light, although first the optimal point to activate the clutch must be finalized while the last units are positioned.
At this moment, yes, the lights go out and there are only 58 laps left that make up the slightly more than 300 kilometers of the Australian Grand Prix.
