This tool is used to gain an advantage in the strategy and tuning of the cars during the season, but it increases the differences between those with more resources and those with less.
The simulator was the ultimate test for skeptics who had long underestimated its value. One of them was Lewis Hamilton, but he has changed his vision about it.
The most veterans had avoided getting involved in the simulation programs in the factories, even Kimi Raikkonen went so far as to say that he hated that work and that it was not important to spend hours and hours in front of the computer screen.
The Briton from Mercedes, on the other hand, doubted its use, although the passage of time has proven right to those who advised him to go through the simulator room. The seven-time world champion, at first, commented that it could never offer the same sensations as the real world: “You can go and do a whole day, but it is not where it is supposed to be.”
“The level of grip is not adequate, or the effect of the wind is not correct, so false numbers can come out,” explained the Englishman. “You have to be very careful with the data you get and the decisions you make.”
Those statements are more than a year old, but aware of the current limits of Formula 1, he starred in a change of mentality to work more in the simulator in 2021 , and while before he wanted to spend his time in Brackley on other matters, he spent next to the simulation.
This meant that he could fight with the W12 until the last round of the season, in a course where everything was decided by small details and in which any help was welcome.
It is not that Hamilton has totally changed his opinion about the simulators, but rather that they have already managed to almost perfectly replicate the conditions of the track. So says his team’s technical director, Mike Elliot : “I think as these tools get better and closer to reality, they are more and more useful to drivers.”
“They stop looking at it as a toy and it becomes a real engineering tool that they can use to their advantage on race weekend,” he said. “It’s a combination of the improvements we’ve made and how tight the schedule is, and that made both drivers push to spend more time there.
“The commitment has always been there, but it was more a case of telling each other that now they had something valuable to them and they could use it,” Elliot revealed.
Romain Grosjean takes a lap at the Gilles Villeneuve circuit in the F1 video game
In fact, as simulator technology has increased, so has the need for them for drivers and teams. It is no coincidence that McLaren has put a simulator on its wish list along with a new wind tunnel to improve its facilities.
Ferrari is no exception, and they have invested in a completely new infrastructure at Maranello which should be ready for this season. Although the power of the computer processor has taken a step forward, it is interesting to hear Charles Leclerc’s reflections on the matter.
“I think it should be an improvement on everything we feel, and it’s good for the driver’s feel,” he confirmed at the end of 2021. “It’s very difficult to recreate the G-forces that we have in the real car, so it will be something in it will get better.”
For the Ferrari team boss, Mattia Binotto , there is no doubt that if he can convince the drivers of the value of the simulator, having a facility with all the facilities and first level would be essential for whoever wanted to win.
“We think having a good simulator is important. If you look at the tire wear that we experience in France and how you can manage and understand that, having a simulator that responds to data that correlates with the track will make everything be more precise”, explained the Italian.
“That’s why it was important for us to make that update. That’s why we believe that the new simulator can put us in a good position in the future,” said Binotto.
It seems that this is a vicious cycle, and with each improvement in the simulation that the Formula 1 teams achieve, the drivers will want to work more hours to get more results.
BMW simulator
