2021 Mexican Grand Prix - Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Nov 05 - 07

[TNTHead]

Why is nobody referring to the Austrian GP for comparison? Both high altitude tracks, although may less similar corners.
Btw I don't think the Honda is a high altitude engine (anymore) since they reduced the size of their turbo (and reduced max turbine rpm as far as I remember). Still many variables so we'll see.

[Mattyw]

AT in 3rd and 5th currently says how well the Honda engine is performing here!

[etusch]

admire these Redbull mechanics

[dans79]

AT in 3rd and 5th currently says how well the Honda engine is performing here!

Or that Red bull has made them turn it up to gather some data for the parent team!

[zibby43]

AT in 3rd and 5th currently says how well the Honda engine is performing here!

Or that Red bull has made them turn it up to gather some data for the parent team!

Horner just said that they saw Merc were running higher PU modes on their fast laps in FP1.

We’ll see in FP2.

[dans79]

Horner just said that they saw Merc were running higher PU modes on their fast laps in FP1.

We’ll see in FP2.

I never trust anything that comes out of Horner's mouth!

[Sieper]

Horner just said that they saw Merc were running higher PU modes on their fast laps in FP1.

We’ll see in FP2.

I never trust anything that comes out of Horner's mouth!

Why wouldn’t you trust him on this? Didn’t Mercedes do the same in FP1 at Cota? Perhaps they aim to get better data in this way. Green track, higher power, closer to the edge driving required.

[Dee]

Would Merc need to test their car at higher engine mode during FP1 to see how it effects ride height? They changed height due to the bumps in COTA..

Usually Merc are the ones that sandbag, but recently, they are the ones that run full power earlier

[dans79]

Why wouldn’t you trust him on this? Didn’t Mercedes do the same in FP1 at Cota? Perhaps they aim to get better data in this way. Green track, higher power, closer to the edge driving required.

That's the point, the track is so green/dirty a lot of the laps don't mean anything. The track will evolve a lot between now and qualifying.

Some drivers were throwing up roster tails of dust braking for turn 1.

You would think Liberty/FOM would have some kind of contractual stipulation with the track owners that the track should be thoroughly cleaned before the weekend starts.

[dans79]

Would Merc need to test their car at higher engine mode during FP1 to see how it effects ride height?

No, The engine modes aren't going to effect the ride height settings much at all, as the turns you need to care about are high speed turns, and not overly acceleration dependent.

Turns 9, 11, and 17, will determine at what speed they can collapse the rear and stall the diffuser, as those are the turns with the highest exit speeds (240-260 kmh range). Thus worst case, all you would do is, crank it up as high as it would go for those turns to see what the maximum exit speed is, and the rest is derivation.

[TXZDRTXG]

There was a 10 kph difference between the Mercedes and Red Bull on the main straight. So, it looks like Mercedes were using a higher engine mode. I don’t know why Mercedes does this as it comes across as false hope.

[Dee]

Would Merc need to test their car at higher engine mode during FP1 to see how it effects ride height?

No, The engine modes aren't going to effect the ride height settings much at all, as the turns you need to care about are high speed turns, and not overly acceleration dependent.

Turns 9, 11, and 17, will determine at what speed they can collapse the rear and stall the diffuser, as those are the turns with the highest exit speeds (240-260 kmh range). Thus worst case, all you would do is, crank it up as high as it would go for those turns to see what the maximum exit speed is, and the rest is derivation.

You say high engine modes are not needed but then you say they would "crank it up as high as it would go" for turns 9,11 and 17 to determine at what speed they can collapse the rear and stall the diffuser. Is that not backing up my theory that they need to run high engine modes in FP1 to derive the ride height for the wkd?

[Sieper]

During FP2 they track will be “cleaner”, better said, a bit less incredibly covered in dust/soot/particles. But tomorrow it will start out worse again. The same happened in 19. I guess it will be quite hard to find the best set-up here.

[Tvetovnato]

Red Bull has been driving a lower power mode during fp1 all year. In fp2 they will probably be 2-3 tenths ahead again.

[dans79]

Would Merc need to test their car at higher engine mode during FP1 to see how it effects ride height?

No, The engine modes aren't going to effect the ride height settings much at all, as the turns you need to care about are high speed turns, and not overly acceleration dependent.

Turns 9, 11, and 17, will determine at what speed they can collapse the rear and stall the diffuser, as those are the turns with the highest exit speeds (240-260 kmh range). Thus worst case, all you would do is, crank it up as high as it would go for those turns to see what the maximum exit speed is, and the rest is derivation.

You say high engine modes are not needed but then you say they would "crank it up as high as it would go" for turns 9,11 and 17 to determine at what speed they can collapse the rear and stall the diffuser. Is that not backing up my theory that they need to run high engine modes in FP1 to derive the ride height for the wkd?

See the bold sections.

You don't need to run The highest ICE engine mode for the entire lap. You could also "cheat" and keep the ICE in a lower mode, while you use maximum deployment for they few segments of the track you care about gathering specific data on.

In other words teams/drivers have multiple ways of getting the data they need, that doesn't involve running at full power for an entire lap.