Join Paul and me as we review the Japanese Grand Prix. We cover each team as they finished, each driver as they finished and each driver for their last race with a team. We discuss Ferrari’s woes, Lewis’s wins and Jo Jo go.
"You can't take F1 to America, you have to take America to F1."
tpf@theparcferme.com
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1. Ooooooookay. (Pulling out a line from “Simone”, I take it?) 2. It would seem that Merc’s figured out its problems, but I’m wondering if the track itself played a factor in this. Other than this, it’s Hamilton’s championship to lose now. 3. I think Ferrari’s chances of winning the title are done. I’m certain that Vettel’s chances are gone as well. Kinda says a lot about their engineers and mechanics, I’m afraid. 4. Either we’re seeing a resurgence of Red Bull or they’re just seizing an opportunity when it presented itself. 5. Speaking of Verstappen, did the stewards do… Read more »
“Kinda says a lot about their engineers and mechanics, I’m afraid.” Really? What do Ferrari’s engineers and mechanics have to do with their spark plugs or turbo interconnectors (sorry – I can’t remember what they’re called)? It seems like suppliers to me – not Ferrari personnel.
I suspect the spark plug issue is a little more complicated than you describe in the podacst! At the risk of boring everyone to death, the spark plug in an F1 car doesn’t really work the same way as it does in a road car or even in most race cars. It’s there to to ignite a very small amount of rich-mixture fuel vapour in a pre-chamber at the top of the main cylinder. When combusted, this creates lighting bolts that ignite the leaner mix in the main cylinder far more effectively. These lightning bolts – also known as jet… Read more »
Great info my friend. :)
I think I just reached peak nerd. (puts bag on head and hides)
great stuff! thanks
So, not quite the same as “diesel” fuel…but awful-damn close.
Regarding Vettel, the Sky guys eluded to the fact that the “jet ignition” (thanks p1ngu) is buried deep in the ICE and therefore, it’s impossible to replace on the grid with the few minutes available to them. Maybe they were just looking for loose wiring? Anyway it’s a shitty way to end what already was looking like a lost championship! Hammy whigned about his engine failure last year. He didn’t have 3 weekends in a row that Vettel has had and I don’t hear Sabastian bitching about it (in public). As for Stroll, again the Sky crew kept going on… Read more »
You’re right that the plugs are buried deep in the engine. Of course, easy access to plugs used to be paramount, as you could easily foul them. As fuel injection came in and ECUs became the norm, so plug fouling and the need to change them disappeared, as did the need for easy access, so it got designed out. Teams took good ol’ spark plugs for granted ……… Sergio Marchionne has even said that the recent small failures, including this one, were “a problem we’ve probably ignored over time because it was never of much importance”. Except that small things… Read more »
Lewis did have more reliability issues than the engine blow up last year, and he was generally the only merc engine car getting them, so he was probably within his rights to complain, Seb would have been this year as well.
First time listening to the podcast. The sound effects / audio clips during the conversation are insufferable.