(Motorsport-Total.com) – Simulators have become an integral part of today’s Formula 1 era. They already provide the teams with an almost perfect basis before a race weekend, have naturally become an enormously important tool in development, and also help the drivers themselves to get in tune with the new cars.
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Especially at the beginning of the new Formula 1 era with the brand-new regulations, practice in the simulator is indispensable to familiarize oneself with the new complex processes. But is it really such a big advantage for a driver to spend a lot of time in the simulator?
“We spent an extreme amount of time in the simulator over the winter,” says Williams driver Alexander Albon. “But at least for me, it feels like you can spend as much time there as you want – when you get on the track, it’s completely different again.”
Simulator not really helpful?
Because even though the correlation between the simulator and the race track is getting better and better, everything doesn’t quite fit together yet. Especially working with the new Formula 1 engines is something that teams like Williams, who don’t have their own power unit, are still having problems with.
“I think the teams that build their own engines have a bit more data and better possibilities, for example, to represent the turbo or battery model in the car. There is still a lot to learn,” says Albon. “At the moment, it feels a bit like most of the learning is happening on the real track, not in the simulator.”
Audi driver Gabriel Bortoleto would agree: “I don’t know,” he answers when asked if simulator experience is really a help for the track. “There are still many things to improve in the simulator, at least for us as a team,” he says. The team has a “good basis,” but most of the work is done by full-time simulator drivers.
Bortoleto himself is one of the drivers who enjoys sim racing – but more on a playful level. “I do it because I enjoy it, not because of energy management,” he emphasizes. “I just like driving different cars, and you definitely always learn something when you do it a lot.”
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Verstappen: Swapped Sim for Switch
One driver who is known to do a lot of sim racing and likes to take part in virtual races at night before a Grand Prix is Max Verstappen. But in view of the new regulations, he has no choice but to joke about the subject.
“I’ve found a cheaper solution. I’ve swapped the simulator for my Nintendo Switch and am now practicing a bit of Mario Kart,” he laughs, referring to various comparisons that have been made in recent days.
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc had said in Australia during the duel with George Russell that it feels like the mushroom in the game, which gives a speed boost for a short time. “Finding the mushrooms is already working quite well,” laughs Verstappen. “The blue shell is still a bit difficult, but I’m working on it.”
It is notorious in the Mario Kart community: it specifically attacks the leading player and puts them out of action for a short time.
“And the rocket?” Bortoleto asks the Dutchman, referring to the Bullet Bill cannonball that lets players plow through the field from far back to the front. “The rocket isn’t there yet. But it’s coming,” he says, and likely hopes that the RB22 will become exactly that rocket that brings him to the very front.
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