2002 Australian GP Preview
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By Craig Scarborough, England
Atlas F1 Technical Writer
As the 2002 season opens in Australia, Atlas F1's technical writer Craig Scarborough serves the most comprehensive and complete Grand Prix Preview - including a look at the circuit layout, the demands from the drivers and the teams, and a full analysis of all participants in the upcoming event
Previewing most Grands Prix with the aim of predicting teams' relative performance is always a tough challenge, but the first GP of the season raises so many question marks to be almost impossible.
The key performance markers are either historic or from winter testing. Judging a team's performance from their previous season is subjective and affected by many factors: staff joining or leaving, new engines or concepts on the car, or simply a team on the rise or in decline.
Furthermore, winter testing is a notoriously poor indicator of a team's performance, as each team has different approaches to testing new cars and run different programmes to test different aspects of the car at different stages of a test. This year, McLaren have come out on top of the later Spanish tests, while at some stage previously most teams have topped the time sheets.
This year, the build up to the season has been compressed into the first weeks of the year, the testing ban over the winter halting circuit testing between the Japanese Grand Prix in mid October 2001 and January 2002. While the teams had less technical rule changes to accommodate, many new components needed to be tested to prove themselves for the Australian GP on March 3rd.
This lack of circuit testing has placed the emphasis on "off circuit" testing - either in the wind tunnel, on the seven post rigs, or with computer simulations. While these alternative testing means are proven, they do not replace real life testing.
As a result this year, several teams have had surprises in their first tests: Ferrari finding their new titanium gearbox failing after 34 laps and forcing the team to delay the race debut of the F2002; and Jaguar finding the on-track performance of their new front wing not matching the figures from the design office due to a calibration problem, resulting in technical director Steve Nichols leaving the team.
Each team - which may have new drivers, personnel, chassis or engines - arrive at the first Grand Prix only to find that the comfort zone which testing provides has disappeared. Instead, the team is in a pit garage on the other side of the world, with a car that never had enough running in testing and has to perform.
The first free practice session on Friday set out the relative performance of the cars, and the teams will be playing with the baseline set up to gain time from the new car. The focus then moves on to Saturday qualifying, where the first true test of the cars' performance takes place. Then on to race day, where establishing a fuel/tyre strategy with still so many unknowns will put the technical directors to the test. And then the race itself, where reliability will always be the biggest worry for all the teams. Moreover, any problems encountered during the weekend limiting track time will severely damage the team's performance for the rest of the weekend.
All this pressure to perform will be under the gaze of the teams' management, sponsors and the world's media. "After the weekend, the teams will have a much more accurate idea of where they all stand in relation to one another," Sauber's Willy Rampf explains.
For the technically minded fan, the first GP is the first chance to see the car operated in controlled conditions - there can be no sandbagging or leaving off secret new performance components. Whereas in testing the teams run any way they like and can keep the garage door closed or leave the car behind tall screens, at the GP the teams have to work to the FIA's schedule of sessions and work going on in the pits cannot always be protected by screens. Therefore, this is the time to see the new cars up close, details hidden at closed test sessions are made public and the first idea of the cars' definitive configuration for the first few races becomes clear.
However, the Australian Grand Prix is on a temporary course - while not a street circuit in the full sense, the Albert Park circuit is only used for the Grand Prix weekend, and the track surface is green, dirty and free of rubber build up. This means the first two sessions on Friday are not a true measure of the teams' performances and not too much should be read into the Friday times.
Circuit Layout and Set Up
The Melbourne circuit is set around a Lake in Parkland and uses roads more normally used for pedestrians and cyclists. While the Grand Prix regularly wins awards for the best hosted race, the circuit is not necessarily the drivers' favourite.
The track is long at over 5 Km, with a fast and flowing layout linking long straights with slower corners. The circuit requires a car with a good balance and accurate "turn in" for the tighter corners. It does not require the high level of downforce Monaco requires, but a modest level of wing is needed, which helps the teams in choosing the initial wing configuration to design for the car as the medium downforce set up suits many circuits and they are not forced to design an extreme high/low downforce wing set to attend the first GP.
However, the teams usually bring several variations of their wings and extra winglets to the race to help tune the car. Some of these solutions never get seen again, such as last year's Ferrari, which had a bi-plane front wing, and Williams's chimney mounted winglets.
Being a circuit with slow corners and long braking areas, mechanical grip is a major chassis requirement. "you need a lot of mechanical grip and traction because of all the slow corners like Jones, Clark, Ascari and Prost," explains Jaguar's Pedro de la Rosa. "All these corners are being taken in second or third gear."
The track beds in over the weekend as the cars lay more rubber onto the tarmac. "Because the track is never used, it is always very 'green' and dirty on the first day, when naturally, everyone wants to do as many laps as possible at the start of the season," states Eddie Irvine. Indeed, while overall the track surface is smooth, some parts of the track have bumps which require a good damper and spring set-up.
With this being the first time the race has been run with traction control, and despite the smooth track surface, tyre wear may be greater than in previous years. It is also a circuit hard on brakes - Ferrari debuted their "barrel" style brake duct here last year. This year, larger scoops will be added to everyone's brake ducts to stop the brakes from overheating and suffering the resulting accelerated disc/pad wear. The race can also be run in warm conditions, which can cause a problem for teams with a sidepod layout giving marginal cooling. Moreover, the teams will bring a range of sidepods and outlets and sometimes resort to cutting away the bodywork if the temperatures exceed those experienced in testing.
The circuit features high kerbs and concrete walls in close proximity to the track. During normal lapping these present no problems for the drivers, but mistakes cost here more than at permanent tracks. Running over a high kerb or hitting a wall will keep the car stranded on the circuit for the rest of the session and in line for lengthy rebuild back in the garage. This could seriously limit a team's set up time earlier in the week and if only one T-car is available (as is usually the case this early in the season) then the common situation of the mechanics playing catch up all weekend and getting no sleep, or the worst case "DNQ" (Did Not Qualify) or "DNS" (Did Not Start) due to the lack of a chassis.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Craig Scarborough, England
Atlas F1 Technical Writer
As the 2002 season opens in Australia, Atlas F1's technical writer Craig Scarborough serves the most comprehensive and complete Grand Prix Preview - including a look at the circuit layout, the demands from the drivers and the teams, and a full analysis of all participants in the upcoming event
Previewing most Grands Prix with the aim of predicting teams' relative performance is always a tough challenge, but the first GP of the season raises so many question marks to be almost impossible.
The key performance markers are either historic or from winter testing. Judging a team's performance from their previous season is subjective and affected by many factors: staff joining or leaving, new engines or concepts on the car, or simply a team on the rise or in decline.
Furthermore, winter testing is a notoriously poor indicator of a team's performance, as each team has different approaches to testing new cars and run different programmes to test different aspects of the car at different stages of a test. This year, McLaren have come out on top of the later Spanish tests, while at some stage previously most teams have topped the time sheets.
This year, the build up to the season has been compressed into the first weeks of the year, the testing ban over the winter halting circuit testing between the Japanese Grand Prix in mid October 2001 and January 2002. While the teams had less technical rule changes to accommodate, many new components needed to be tested to prove themselves for the Australian GP on March 3rd.
This lack of circuit testing has placed the emphasis on "off circuit" testing - either in the wind tunnel, on the seven post rigs, or with computer simulations. While these alternative testing means are proven, they do not replace real life testing.
As a result this year, several teams have had surprises in their first tests: Ferrari finding their new titanium gearbox failing after 34 laps and forcing the team to delay the race debut of the F2002; and Jaguar finding the on-track performance of their new front wing not matching the figures from the design office due to a calibration problem, resulting in technical director Steve Nichols leaving the team.
Each team - which may have new drivers, personnel, chassis or engines - arrive at the first Grand Prix only to find that the comfort zone which testing provides has disappeared. Instead, the team is in a pit garage on the other side of the world, with a car that never had enough running in testing and has to perform.
The first free practice session on Friday set out the relative performance of the cars, and the teams will be playing with the baseline set up to gain time from the new car. The focus then moves on to Saturday qualifying, where the first true test of the cars' performance takes place. Then on to race day, where establishing a fuel/tyre strategy with still so many unknowns will put the technical directors to the test. And then the race itself, where reliability will always be the biggest worry for all the teams. Moreover, any problems encountered during the weekend limiting track time will severely damage the team's performance for the rest of the weekend.
All this pressure to perform will be under the gaze of the teams' management, sponsors and the world's media. "After the weekend, the teams will have a much more accurate idea of where they all stand in relation to one another," Sauber's Willy Rampf explains.
For the technically minded fan, the first GP is the first chance to see the car operated in controlled conditions - there can be no sandbagging or leaving off secret new performance components. Whereas in testing the teams run any way they like and can keep the garage door closed or leave the car behind tall screens, at the GP the teams have to work to the FIA's schedule of sessions and work going on in the pits cannot always be protected by screens. Therefore, this is the time to see the new cars up close, details hidden at closed test sessions are made public and the first idea of the cars' definitive configuration for the first few races becomes clear.
However, the Australian Grand Prix is on a temporary course - while not a street circuit in the full sense, the Albert Park circuit is only used for the Grand Prix weekend, and the track surface is green, dirty and free of rubber build up. This means the first two sessions on Friday are not a true measure of the teams' performances and not too much should be read into the Friday times.
Circuit Layout and Set Up

The Melbourne circuit is set around a Lake in Parkland and uses roads more normally used for pedestrians and cyclists. While the Grand Prix regularly wins awards for the best hosted race, the circuit is not necessarily the drivers' favourite.
The track is long at over 5 Km, with a fast and flowing layout linking long straights with slower corners. The circuit requires a car with a good balance and accurate "turn in" for the tighter corners. It does not require the high level of downforce Monaco requires, but a modest level of wing is needed, which helps the teams in choosing the initial wing configuration to design for the car as the medium downforce set up suits many circuits and they are not forced to design an extreme high/low downforce wing set to attend the first GP.
However, the teams usually bring several variations of their wings and extra winglets to the race to help tune the car. Some of these solutions never get seen again, such as last year's Ferrari, which had a bi-plane front wing, and Williams's chimney mounted winglets.
Being a circuit with slow corners and long braking areas, mechanical grip is a major chassis requirement. "you need a lot of mechanical grip and traction because of all the slow corners like Jones, Clark, Ascari and Prost," explains Jaguar's Pedro de la Rosa. "All these corners are being taken in second or third gear."
The track beds in over the weekend as the cars lay more rubber onto the tarmac. "Because the track is never used, it is always very 'green' and dirty on the first day, when naturally, everyone wants to do as many laps as possible at the start of the season," states Eddie Irvine. Indeed, while overall the track surface is smooth, some parts of the track have bumps which require a good damper and spring set-up.
With this being the first time the race has been run with traction control, and despite the smooth track surface, tyre wear may be greater than in previous years. It is also a circuit hard on brakes - Ferrari debuted their "barrel" style brake duct here last year. This year, larger scoops will be added to everyone's brake ducts to stop the brakes from overheating and suffering the resulting accelerated disc/pad wear. The race can also be run in warm conditions, which can cause a problem for teams with a sidepod layout giving marginal cooling. Moreover, the teams will bring a range of sidepods and outlets and sometimes resort to cutting away the bodywork if the temperatures exceed those experienced in testing.
The circuit features high kerbs and concrete walls in close proximity to the track. During normal lapping these present no problems for the drivers, but mistakes cost here more than at permanent tracks. Running over a high kerb or hitting a wall will keep the car stranded on the circuit for the rest of the session and in line for lengthy rebuild back in the garage. This could seriously limit a team's set up time earlier in the week and if only one T-car is available (as is usually the case this early in the season) then the common situation of the mechanics playing catch up all weekend and getting no sleep, or the worst case "DNQ" (Did Not Qualify) or "DNS" (Did Not Start) due to the lack of a chassis.