Having watched the Grand Prix in Bahrain and I have a question for racing fans.

It seems to me that the pit exit should either be at:
1)on the straight, with sufficient distance before the first corner, or
2)near the first corner, on the OUTSIDE

Now my reasons for this is so that cars emerging from the pits will not have an advantage into the corner. This would be safer and more sensible.

In Bahrain and in some of the newer circuits, the pitlane actually exits on to the INSIDE of the corner, which provided Alonso with an advantage. Heck, in Interlagos (and I think Laguna Seca) the pitlane acutally has several pretty severe corners in it to make sure that you don't gain time going through the pits and so that you enter the track on the outside of the on-coming corner.

Now, the gird, IMO should also be setup so that P1 is on the INSIDE of the first corner to make sure that the guy in P1 has the advantage going in to the first corner if the guy in P2 hasn't gained an appraciable advantage. Again, this didn't seem to be the case in Bahrain.

Am I alone in thinking this? I am not trying to say that Alonso shouldn't have won or whatever, but surely the location of the entrace is rather unfair?

 

well pit exit is pit exit...


if it give alnso and adv then it give everyone elts one too..


i didnt see the start.. but P1 started on the outside of pole? usualy the p1 driver chooses if he wants the left or rite... i have no idea why u wuld choose outside.. unless u have so much power it doesnt even matter.. but in f1 i cant see that happening

 

I am trying not to make this and alonso/schumacher issue, and you are right that it's the same for everybody. But surely exiting on to the inside of a corner gives whoever comes out of the pits an advantage which IMO they shouldn't have and it is also a little dangerous...

I think the grid layout is fixed for F1. I recall Interlagos has P1 on the outside of the first corner also and that seems to be teh case every year.

 

F1 P1 is typically outside because it is the clean line...

JW

 

Typically, yes. But that does not always makes sense. A 'clean' line that puts you outside of a tight first corner is rather silly if that corner is relatively close, e.g. Spa and Interlagos.

 

Maybe...

If you're MS, you just want to get a better launch and a slight head start because you're just going to chop across the next guy's bow anyway...

JW

 

In that case, he should get himself a Renault.

 

- i seem to remember it was senna who started this in 80s when at mclaren. he was a very analytical guy, and felt the true best starting position was on the clean line. he had 65 poles so i guess he had plenty of experience to base that on...

 

Well, MS now has the same number. I don't think he'd say different about the grid. But might have something to say about the pit exit...

 

Not only do they start outside, but they are also a car length ahead, so they should get there first all things being equal.

As far as leaving the pit, yes they have inside line, but they cant carry as much speed , so it balances out.

my .02 cents.

 

if you have the inside line into a tight corner, it doesn't really matter about the speed. It's mainly the position. We saw in Malaysia, in some really tight corners and some not so tight ones, if you place your car at/near the apex you do stand a good chance to gain/retain the position.