F1 RACING JANUARY 2020 17LATIFI JOINS WILLIAMS
Formula 2 runner-up Nicholas Latifi
completes the 2020 F1 driver line-up02
MANUF ACTURER
UNCERTAINTY
LOOMS
02
WHO STAYS – WHO GOES?
Formula 1 faces a fightto persuade
manufacturersto stay on board after 2021^03PICTURES:GLENN DUNBAR;STEVE ETHERINGTONand sometimes anundersteering car. Thisyear has beena
lot mo re understeer, and we’ve been trying to work around
the balancebecause the track is constantly migrating.
“When youare actually on thelap, braking points are
key. Fromthe brake to the apex iswhere the majority
of the time is made. But it’s alsoseparating out the lap
and finding out where it’s better sometimes to sacrifice
the entry to get the exit. Of course,you want to use the
maximumwidth of thetrack, and keeping theminimum
speed up ismost often key insomeplaces, but there are
different driving styles youhave to applyto different
corners, soit’s really trying to figure out what those are.
“It flows through practice and I’m usuallypushing more,
pushing less, liftingoffa bit of the speed, moving the brake
balance around,andthe engine braking– downshifting
earlier, downshifting later.Then there are thesedifferent
things to adjustthe balance of the car.”Formula1’s2021rulesoverhaulwas originally
designedwith the aim of attracting more manufacturers,
but now the championship is potentially facing a fight
simply to keep hold of the ones it already has.
Honda recently renewed terms with Red Bull and Toro
Rosso for 2021, but what happens after that is uncertain.
Under its late former president Sergio Marchionne,
Ferrari threatened towalk away from F1 during talks
over the championship’s post-2020 future, but was
always likely tobe stay the course, soto speak, given
its special andenduring relationship with F1 as its key
marketing platform. Ferrari is also expected to retain itsTHERE ARE
DIFFERENT
DRIVING
STYLES YOU
HAVE TO APPLY
TO DIFFERENT
CORNERS, SO
IT’S REALLY
TRYINGTO
FIGUREOUT WHAT
THOSE ARE
“
“
Hamilton, seen here
celebrating his sixth
title with some of his
team, has opened up
about some ofthe
small details that have
contributedto his
successat MercedesCHANGING SETTINGSCORNER TO CORNER
“That’s probablythe hard est thing.In each corner there’s
a limitation to what youcan do. If you’regoing to be[at]
very highspeed, you have a lotof downforceon some of
the corners,soyou have more [tyre] slip when the brake
balance is further forward. Or at some [slower] corners
you have more on the rear.
“You have tofocu s onhitting the apexes andthe braking
points perfectly [as well]. Adjusting thesethin gs has taken
a lot of time to practice. Youhave tohave extra bandwidth
in your focus, to be ableto do those andget the m perfe ct.”CONSTANTLY QUESTIONING THE TEAM...
“I am constantly questioning everything: howfar the tyres
can go, how early ourpitstop is. Ifyou look at Silverstone
this year, they asked me to do atwo- stop but I believedI
could do a one-stop. I stayedout and the one-stop worked.
“On fuel-saving, I find it an easy tech nique. Ifyouuse
a high gear but stillget a good exit, what difference did
that make? I’m looking at all these things to save,plus
save your downshift, anduse less energy braking,all these
different things.I thin k so deep intoit. It could potentially
be sometimes too deep,but t his is how I am wired.”...WHILE MOTIVATING THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU
“There’sa lot o f aspects to my job.It is notjust the driving,
it is working thefactory. WhatI want to bring intothe
environment isgreat communication.I t ry a nd bri ng in a
lot of laughter [too] – try andhave fun, butnot deterring
us from the job at hand, andkeep us focused and busy.
“I’ve noticed when I don’t reallywant to be there and
have negativity that everyone elsefeels t hat. So, I’m always
trying to be the bestme, b ecauseI kn ow if I’m shining as
bright as Ican, I’m able toget people up next to me.”LEWIS HAMILTON