MASTERCLASS
ROB WILSON
Carrying excessive mid-corner
speed can be counterproductiveDUNBARSUTTON(^04) 1 AUGUST 2019
henever a driver is out
testing by themselves, their
feedback is usually pretty
positive, requesting only a
few minor adjustments to the car. But
when they can compare their times with
everyone else and see that they’re down in
10th, suddenly it’s a very diff erent picture:
‘I’ve got a super-quick team-mate and I’m
not going to be able to outdrive him, so
I’ve got to make this car work for me’.
Pierre Gasly seemed to have turned a
corner at Silverstone, but until then he
had seemed all at sea at Red Bull relative
to his team-mate Max Verstappen. He has
all the tools necessary to beat Verstappen
if he does everything right, but it’s going
to be very diffi cult to outdrive him. You
can’t brake later than somebody as good
as Verstappen and pick up time. If he
does try braking later, he will only pick
up a couple of metres and compromise
what’s coming next.
Going into corners too quickly in
search of a higher mid-corner speed
is the fi rst thing that will cost you lap
time, because the corner will go on too
long and you’ll fi nd other drivers will get
on-power sooner and outdrag you on the
exit. You’ll also deteriorate the tyre and
perhaps fi nd yourself correcting some
GETTING INTO THE
SWEET SPOT
Our expert coach explains the simple principles
needed to help drivers get into a rhythm
W
oversteer, so you will then brake earlier
at the next corner because of the fright
that you’ve given yourself.
Most people can carry similar mid-
corner speed these days, because the
cars handle so well. It’s not like the old
days when you rated a driver on the mid-
corner speed they could handle, for example
whether they could take Goodwood corner
at Thruxton fl at in a Formula 2 car. You
could outdrive people back then – it didn’t
matter if the tyres slid because they were
made out of concrete. But now those
opportunities really aren’t there, so if
you’re hunting for that extra bit of mid-
corner speed, it’s unlikely to help you out.
Drivers can end up chasing the car and
telling the engineer, ‘I’ve got a traction
problem exiting that corner’, which is
actually the result of oversteer the
driver is inducing, or, ‘the left-front
keeps locking, I’m not getting the right
feel from the brake’. But put Jackie
Stewart or Alain Prost in the car and it
would perform, so instead of reacting to
events, drivers should learn to work on
fi nding a harmony with the car, which
allows them to get into a rhythm.
One point I often make to drivers is,
‘You don’t need to be any faster, you’re
already fast enough’. When they have
gone head-to-head with someone in
testing and lapped just as fast, you’re not
looking to make them into a faster racing
driver, but help them develop the skills
to cross the fi nish line sooner. It’s about
teaching drivers to be a more effi cient
version of themselves and be more aware
of where the limits are, so they’re not
trying to outdrive people all the time.
You have to think, ‘I can brake as late
as anybody, but if I’ve locked up the wheel,
I’m not going to be able to turn it’. So
give yourself half a metre to do that, and
remember that if you’re arriving on the
limit you will need to counter-intuitively
decrease the brake pressure to unlock the
wheel. Then, if you can tease yourself off
the brake pedal, the tyre can grip and then
you fi nd yourself getting rid of understeer
rather than asking the engineer to do it. As
a driver, you have all the skills to do this,
because the rate you move your hands and
feet has a huge eff ect on how a car handles.
Don’t be pressurised into overdriving by
“It’s about teaching
drivers to be more
efficient versions
of themselves”
Vettel’s struggles
to find rhythm have
resulted in mistakes
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