One of them is what happens during the pit stop, and if done correctly, it is an engineering ballet display.
The regulations stipulate that each driver must run two tire compounds in the Grand Prix, which makes the pit stop – when all four tires have to be replaced – must be used for mandatory use. Teams usually have to choose from the soft, neutralizing hard compounds offered by Pirelli, which is the tire supplier for that sport, tracking conditions and weather factors for which products are used.
“You don’t win the game in the pits, but your pits aren’t a good stop and you lose the game,” said Rich Wolverson, the Red Bulls’ game director.
Red Bull was the fastest and most consistent pit stop last season, with McLaren’s personal pit stop time at 1.9 seconds.
McLaren held the record in Formula 1, holding the record at 1.8 seconds in the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix, but to strike a balance. “There is a good line between reliability and performance, to balance it,” Wolverson said. “You don’t want to force everyone to get a world record every weekend because that’s where the mistakes happen. You just want to keep stopping and give the driver confidence that he can keep himself on the track.” Red Bull’s average progression time is 2.2 seconds, which is the tradeoff between pursuing the final performance and the tradeoff of offending the race mistake.
“You have to be consistent,” said the team’s chief mechanic, Chris Gent, in an interview. “If you have a good one, then there’s a bad strategy next time,” [team] There are certain numbers that if you miss these goals, they will be spent on your game strategy, so you need to be consistent in time. ”
Each team has a designated location called the box in the box. Therefore, the command to pit the driver on the radio is “box, box, box”. The box is usually slightly angled, as it allows the driver to brake faster, easier, and then accelerate with a more acute inclination.
The docks entering the station usually involve about 22 people, some of them as backups. Two people kept the center of the car steady, while the other two raised the car on the jack. The front jack rotates sideways, speeding up the reduction process.
There are also three people per wheel, one can remove the tire, weighing about 22 pounds, one with a new tire, and the other can operate the wheel gun, the device can remove the wheel nut on the first movement and reseat the nut in the next action.
The traffic light of the gantry above the driver controlled by the gentleman tells the driver when to go.
“There are a lot of people,” Wolverson said.
The gentleman must be aware of not only Red Bull’s pit stop, but also other cars entering and leaving the pit lane. If any car is released into the path of another car, it will not only risk a collision, but it will also suffer a five-second fine.
There will always be errors, including wheel gun failures, stuck wheel nuts, and wearing tires for drivers’ teammates and loose tires. A quick response to these setbacks is fundamental.
“It’s critical because the next car may come in,” Wolverson said.
Early in the morning on the Grands Prix, the sound of the wheel gun was unchanged as the fleet practice pit stopped and the vehicle was slowly pushed into the box to wait for the mechanic. The team is also practicing older cars in the factory.
“In practice, we probably had 30 stops throughout the competition and lived during the conference,” Wolverston said. This is especially important when starting to train any new mechanic every year.
“It’s about building confidence with live cars,” Wolverson said. “We can do a lot of things in the factory, but nothing can replicate the adrenaline of a live car.
