With Formula 1′s emphasis on technology, why should they stop? Formula 1 cars, the fastest closed-course race cars in the world, utilize around 150 sensors around the car to allow numbers crunchers the means to shave tenths of seconds off the 19 circuits they run at each year.
All teams in the series have data-acquisition methods, but the World Champion Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula1 team may have a super-trick added advantage with an assist by sponsor Qualcomm, and their new 5-GHz Wi-Fi data download system. While no team is allowed to mine data during an actual race, Mercedes Grand Prix can stream practice and qualifying data to the team’s computer servers as soon as three-time champion Lewis Hamilton and teammate Nico Rosberg in their Silver Arrows, hit the entrance to the pits at COTA and other circuits in the series.
A typical race weekend yields approximately 7-billion data points that the team uses to adjust the cars for optimal efficiency and handling. A traditional setup requires the team to hook up an umbilical cord before data retrieval can occur. In the case of the Silver Arrows, and the use of Wi-Fi, the drivers and teams were presented with data and information before the cars were backed into the garage.
Other teams still relying on the umbilical cord-style link from the car’s ECU were forced to wait until the car was in the garage before hooking up. During a rain-splotched weekend like the one teams experienced in Austin, the Mercedes teammates were returning to the track in rapid fashion, between Biblical sheets of rain that swamped the circuit, located about 25 miles southeast of downtown.
An unfair advantage?
Mercedes-AMG F1 technical directly Paddy Lowe: “In the past we have relied on the driver to tell us what was going on. Then came the data downloads via a wired connection. This new Wi-Fi system is used to help with all sorts of data including that from the infra-red cameras that are directed at the tires to help determine tire wear. They are not part of the normal race-legal telemetry that streams data during competition. Previously, tire data was stored on-board in a discrete (dedicated) storage area that would be accessed after a practice or qualifying run.”
Derek Aberle, Qualcomm: “Formula 1 is such an exciting sport, that I personally enjoy. When we work with a partner, generally they are slower than we are. One of the gratifying things for us, and a thing that has really pushed us, frankly, is that Mercedes F1 is actually moving more quickly than we are. The advances they need to make to stay ahead of the competition really drive innovation at a pace that is faster than many other industries in the world.”
The Connected Car
According to company officials, the electronics firm has been involved with Daimler for a decade, and currently has around 40 other partnerships with (automotive) OEMs. A lot of future growth will come from leveraging their smartphone technologies and moving into other sectors that assist companies in bringing their products to market faster. The Automotive sector is at the top of that list, and the brand’s experience helps to push the envelope for Connected Car Technology, that according to Aberle is a very difficult environment to design in.
Man and machine
Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg, when asked about the balance of man and machine in F1: “As talented as I try to be on the track, if I am not able to set the car up to my liking, I’m not going to be driving fast, and not winning races. When a team gets the car to the track, all tracks are different, and the cars need to be set up completely different as well. Both of us (Rosberg and Hamilton) start with the same setup. Then its up to me to tune it so that I feel comfortable and can attack it with improved lap times. So I work with the engineers, analyze the data, and there are so many parameters, its very complex, but I enjoy that part of it, it’s a big challenge.”
“We get engine data and tire wear information. It immediately impacts our performance. In qualifying (during Qually 3) I have time to get pushed into the garage, they top me off with fuel and I have to go out again. In the past, by the time they connected my car with the cable, I’d have to go again so that data was basically useless to me.” He continued, “So from that point of view, the automatic data that already has arrived before I even get to the garage, helps massively. I can influence the engineers, say for example on tire temperatures and pressures, if they say that things were set too high, we can drop the tire pressures very quickly just in time to go out for the next qualifying session and that will put me on the Pole instead of in P2. It makes a decisive difference.”
The data from practice and qualifying has become much more important since teams have been prohibited by Formula 1 Czar Bernie Ecclestone from coaching drivers to the car’s needs based on telemetry transmitted during the race. “Bernie didn’t like that we seem like little moppets controlled by the engineers, so he said to stop all the information flow, and leave the driver to his own devices. That has changed quite a lot now. We are out there by ourselves and that has made practice more important now in getting on top of things. And it’s good.” Rosberg implied that thanks to the data transfers from practice, “We are able to be out there on our own and able to figure things out that someone who needs more help or information wouldn’t be able to do.”
Currently, the data is not required to be shared. Telemetry is pretty much standardized through next season but parameters relating to engine, gearbox, braking and such remain but are limited to a certain bandwidth that is inaccessible during the race. Examples like thermal cameras yield much more data than what is flashed to the team servers from the car’s ECU each time it laps the course.
The current Qualcomm setup uses 802.11-AC Wi-Fi that is typical of most high-speed computer modem transfer rates sending between 200-600 MB per second at 5-GHz. The next Qualcomm system will use 802.11 AD, which is 3-4 times faster than that, and travels up to 4-GB per second. A tremendous amount of data will be able to be downloaded in a short period of time
Results can be seen
The Pole position of the 2015 U.S Grand Prix was claimed by Rosberg, but he was nosed out in turn one by teammate Hamilton, who after leading 14 laps, was in turn, overtaken by Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo. Hamilton reclaimed the lead, and was then passed by Rosberg, who held on until an unforced error caused Rosberg to drift wide left on lap 48. From that point, Hamilton passed his teammate and held on for the final eight laps to claim the race win and an undisputed third world championship title.
Photos by Mark Elias and Mercedes AMG F1.
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