‘Game of inches’ is a famous phrase attributed to Green Bay Packers American Football team coach, Vince Lombardi, immortalised by Al Pacino in the film Any Given Sunday.
A ‘game of inches’ justifies why the smallest detail matters. Like American Football, Formula 1 is, too, a game of inches, as the difference between raising a championship banner and being considered a failure is often the smallest margin.
Although in contemporary Formula 1 Mercedes’ domination seems insurmountable, the margins in 2020 have been tighter than many years before, with outright performance of all 20 cars on the grid falling within a delta of around 3.4 per cent between the best and worst. Some teams in the so-called midfield fall within less than 0.75 per cent of their closest rivals. As such, should a team’s nominal performance fall to 99.24 per cent of its target pace, there’s another team there to take advantage of that infinitesimally small error.
And such was the fortune of the McLaren Renault team who, at the very last race of the season in Abu Dhabi, clinched third place in the constructors’ championship, beating Racing Point BWT Mercedes by just seven points. The battle for this position behind world champions, Mercedes Petronas AMG, and Red Bull Racing Honda has been one hard fought for the entirety of the 2020 season.
McLaren Renault’s apparent game of inches approach has been well documented in 2020, that being a step away from where they were just a few years ago.
Starting gate
This story is from the February 2021 edition of Racecar Engineering.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the February 2021 edition of Racecar Engineering.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Talk the torque
More thoughts on in-wheel motors and their effects on twisting force
Rolling about
An explanation of the limitations of a previous load transfer article, bringing jacking forces into the mix
F1 breaks schedule records
The FIA has confirmed no fewer than 23 races on the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship schedule, the highest number of grands prix ever to be held in a single season, and that has led to criticism from some teams that will be on the road for eight months.
Under pressure
Toyota may have finished first and second at Le Mans this year, but the effort required to overcome a fuel delivery problem and finish with both cars was Herculean
Physics at work
Dutch company, Intrax, offers Racecar Engineering an insight into the technologies it employs to optimise its suspension products
Williams' 2030 ambition
Williams Racing has committed to becoming climate positive by 2030 as part of an all-new sustainability strategy.
Diff'rent strokes
Racecar looks at the different types of mechanical differential, their benefits and limitations
Das Boot
A curious Twitter exchange fired up a unique, hydrogen-powered, cross-country project that will contest the Baja 1000 in November 2022
Air born
Every racecar engineer's dream is a blank sheet of paper design. When Hoonigan and Subaru approached Vermont Sportscars about building the next generation of Gymkhana racer, that's just what the company was given
Remote control
Called variously ‘virtual garages’, ‘mission control’ or ‘race support rooms’ is the future of race engineering sitting in the warm back at HQ?
