In the contemporary era of F1, in which there is practically no room for track tests and where teams and drivers have to be ready to compete in a Grand Prix almost every week, the simulator plays a crucial role. For years there has been talk of how the problems of Ferrari they depended precisely on an incorrect correlation between the data provided by the ‘virtual’ circuits reconstructed in Maranello and the actual tracks, on which the Cavallino was forced to start with a gap given precisely by the lack of reliability of the work carried out at home. Fortunately, today, also looking at the excellent start of the season made by the men in red, the story seems different. On the eve of a delicate and particular weekend like that of You love me, on a totally new track, the simulation work takes on even greater weight, given that there is no data from previous years to draw from. Getting virtual work wrong can therefore have a very strong impact on a team’s entire weekend.
He spoke about this very theme on the eve of the weekend in Florida Enrico Sampò, Head of Driving Simulator of the Cavallino. It is he who has the task of putting Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in the ideal conditions to be able to get to know the new layout, minimizing the surprises that the two standard-bearers of the red will find when they actually enter the real track. “The driving simulator is a fundamental element in preparing for a race weekend – explained the engineer from Fossano – activity begins several weeks earlier with a review of the previous year’s Grand Prix, if available. A few sessions are then carried out with a test driver to understand the behavior of the tires, to predict the car balance, to verify the behavior of specific components and finally to test different setup options. A few days before the event, the starting drivers and their track engineers face a simulator session to help prepare themselves and the car. In the case of new circuits, such as Miami, Charles and Carlos also use the simulator to train, to learn more about the circuit itself and to repeat the various procedures of the race weekend.“.
“The first moment you know if the job is good is usually the first free practice session on Friday – explained Sampò again – we begin to compare the simulator data with those collected on the track. In the case of a new track such as Miami, the data on the layout of the circuit itself, on the layout of the curbs and on the presence or absence of elements that the simulator model did not foresee are also important. The correlation between the behavior of the car on the track and the simulator is refined during the weekend, but having a good starting point is certainly essential to give the engineers on the track the opportunity to focus on the details “.
Finally, the manager of the Ferrari simulator went into detail on the track that develops around the Hard Rock Stadium, also indicating the predictions made after the preparation work carried out in Maranello: “Miami is a totally new circuit for which simulation activities are even more important. We expect a fast track, with some high-speed corners in the first sector and others rather slow, especially in the third. There are some very long straights, with three DRS zones and a good chance of overtaking. From the point of view of car balance it is certainly a complex circuit. You need to find a good compromise between the various types of corners and have good efficiency to tackle the long straights. The event was prepared on the simulator following our standard procedures, with particular attention due to the fact that the uncertainty of the information in our possession is greater. For this reason, the series of conditions and problems that we try to predict is wider than usual. Charles and Carlos both went through a long preparation session to get to know the circuit, explore the possible limitations of the car and try different setup solutions to optimize balance and lap time “.
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