#fullgaz translates

[fullgazly]

Inside the head of a F1 driver, l’Équipe -  Part 2/7

Pierre Gasly & Esteban Ocon interview for l’Équipe.

Long text, so see under the cut.

When the lights turn on, at 3pm precisely, the F1 cars start with a formation lap before the race start is given. A last opportunity to check that all the mechanics and electronics are working perfectly for these little gems of thechnology. Last Frenchman to win a Grand Prix, in Monza in 2020, Pierre Gasly tells us how his brain goes into overdrive in this moment out of time, which can last from 75 minutes, for the fastest race (Italy), to over two hours for the slowest (Monaco and Singapore).

“Before the formation lap, I'm always conscious," explains the Alpha Tauri driver. “Things are quite normal in the way I react." Habit and reflexes help to reiterate the steps necessary to prepare for this start.. Yet, there are already a lot of things to think about and plan, "four or five very important actions".

Not that much, except it is not about turning off the wipers while changing the radio station.

“Indeed," confirms Esteban Ocon, the Alpine driver, "it really is at that moment that you concentrate and start to visualize everything you have to do. We are also left to ourselves because it's the only moment when we can't communicate with the pits. Only the machine and us are left... It is probably the moment when the pressure reaches a peak and the adrenaline starts to kick in. "

Because yes, the driver is alone: from now on, the engineers are no longer allowed to come and assist during this formation lap. The driver manage thus alone the parameters that will determine his start. "Because”, calculates Ocon, “the start is 80% of the race. Losing places at this moment is definitely very costly." So, synchronize the gears, first of all. "You have to shift through all the gears up to eighth” Gasly explains. “It's an information that we'll have on the steering wheel." Nothing very complicated except that, at the same time, the hybrid engine (since 2014) must charge the batteries in order to deliver, at the start, some extra power. The power of the propulsion unit is therefore degraded to allow this recharge. "The setting for this lap allows us to push hard in a straight line to reach 8th," reassured the Frenchman.

Next, the tires must be brought to temperature. The tires are an essential element of performance: the only link with the ground, the only way to convey to the asphalt the 1,000 horsepower generated by an F1 car. To get this power through, the drivers do "burn-outs": they place the tire in "constraint" by making the single-seater zigzag brutally, while using the brakes. The carbon models only start to work at 400 degrees and also contribute to the heating of the rubber. That's easy, but... some tracks favor right-hand corners. So the left wheels should not be forgotten. Or the opposite. Push a little in the few corners on a certain side to get an even temperature on all four tires.

“We will try to attack a little more to put more energy on these tires so that they are ready when we get to the grid," continued Gasly. “The 'burn outs' (BO on the steering wheel) enables us, in this energy recharge mode, to have more power, to accelerate brutally on some instances of power."

When we arrive at the starting grid, we must not forget to deactivate this "engine" mode and switch to "start" mode. In 2016 in Barcelona, Nico Rosberg lost the race by failing to do this before the lights went out. When he recovered at Turn 3, Hamilton was already in his wake and attacked him just as the Austrian was putting the power back on. The two Mercedes collided and were forced to retire.

Is it all over? Not yet. You have to be well positioned. The single-seaters are low and the drivers are wearing helmets. They can't see much. On the sides, marshals or boards remind them of their number, where their place is. After that, you have to manage to get into your "box".

"Everyone knows how to take their cues, on each box there is a yellow line. I try to always come at the same speed. I know that with this yellow line, I can move forward fifteen or twenty centimeters, but stop at that point," Gasly said. Getting closer to the limit without crossing it. Because if the car is badly positioned, it would be penalized with a "drive through" penalty (obligatory passage through the pit lane but without stopping) or a ''stop and go'' penalty (passing through the pit lane while making a stop, which actually happened to the Alpha Tauri driver during the last Spain GP). “It's a very important moment," Ocon said, "to be in the right place on the grid, to gain the last twenty or thirty centimeters, which can be decisive from the first corner. It's the little details that make it possible to achieve good results in the end... or not. "But first...

“I wait in first gear that the whole grid is ready to start and that the lights goes out.” Gasly

“Once the first gear is engaged, I really concentrate on my reaction time.” Ocon

The relative normality of this formation lap will however, very quickly, give way to another stage of consciousness. The one which, at the moment of the start, puts the pilots in this other world...

(Translated with DeepL, i tried to correct some mistakes but I apologize for anything that is still not clear)

#pierre gasly #esteban ocon #dans la tête d'un pilote de f1 #fullgaz translates

[fullgazly]

Inside the head of a F1 driver, l’Équipe -  Part 3/7

Pierre Gasly & Esteban Ocon interview for l’Équipe.

Long text, so see under the cut.

Alone behind the wheel, the driver now waits for the lights to come on, then go off. Attention is focused on the red light that will disappear. Everyone has their own method, as Gasly points out: "Some drivers stay in neutral but I've had bad experiences of getting stuck. It's not pleasant at all! " So the Frenchman from Alpha Tauri goes for the first gear, focused on the skid point, which will transmit the engine’s power to the single-seater. In a road car, this point is found on the clutch pedal, often at mid-stroke, and is used for hill starts. “This is different," explains Gasly. “On a hill, you push the throttle to the maximum to prevent the car from going backwards. On a race start, you have to control it. To the millimeter. "

In order to detect this skid point, the engineers had managed to split the gearshift paddle into two sections, one of which allowed the driver to find it mechanically and automatically. This has been forbidden for the past three years, in order to favour the unexpected and put the pilot back at the center of this very special exercise. “But we quickly got into the habit by doing practice starts before the race," Gasly said. “We know more or less where it is. From one weekend to the next, it is more or less in the same place. " And the Frenchman explains, without wanting to be filmed, how he can manage the percentage of his clutch's pedal by sliding his fingers along the upright of his steering wheel, using his thumb to push the clutch instead of releasing his index finger. "To catch the right percentage, it's a lot of practice," admits the Norman.

Without wanting to reveal his secrets either, Esteban Ocon has always practiced his starts on Sunday mornings since he started in F1. So you don't have to skid too much and you have to know how to measure your acceleration according to a bewildering number of parameters, such as the slope of the track, the grip of the asphalt, the weather conditions... Hence all these exercises carried out throughout the weekend. At the exit of the pits when it is possible, or on the grid when this exit is impracticable for the tests (as in Monaco or in Austria).

Then comes the most important second : the start. Esteban Ocon said: "I wait to see till all the cars position themselves, I put the first gear in and concentrate on my reaction time. "

When the five lights go out you need to react quickly, very quickly. At least faster than others. Without any false starts. Article 36.13 a (FIA regulations) "a driver will be penalised if he moves before the start signal is given". The judgement being made by an approved transponder.

"All my attention is focused on those lights, how I'm going to release the clutch and the engine speed when I get going," Gasly said. Having the right reflex. A gesture practiced for years in training on torture machines such as the BATAK (used by Esteban Ocon at the 3,2,2 Perform Center in Egat, in the Pyrenees, see above), which the drivers have mastered since they were young.

Then it’s finally started but it’s not over yet. Far from it. “I am lucky to have a very good reaction time and it has already make a difference in the past. We still manage the skid a little, until the third gear. From then we are pushing hard.” Said Gasly.

Everything then becomes a question of positioning and the ability to analyze a monstrous amount of information that can surprise the layperson. Not the pilot, nor the doctor who helps him to simplify this moment of intense stress. As Professor Antoni Valero-Cabré, from the Brain Institute, explains: "The activity is complex: you have to perceive reality, analyze it and make quick choices. The prefrontal part of the brain will help the pilot to develop a globally conscious strategy. In case of an emergency, he is able to do all these activities unconsciously to plan the motor actions that will allow him to solve the problem. "

Among car drivers, the processing of information is almost instantaneous.

“If Messi is very good with the ball," continues the doctor at the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris, "it's because, as a kid, he played with his friends and spent hours controlling the ball. It's a bit the same principle for a driver. The fact of driving, driving, driving, being exposed to complex decision making, generates certain automatisms that we can engage in a mechanical way, like an automatic pilot to solve a situation quickly. "

Gasly sums it up with a mantra he tries to apply as often as possible: "Ideally, you should always try to find an inside or outside line, which gives you the possibility to brake as late as possible. And not to find yourself in a funnel with little space in front of you."

Easy to say, much less to achieve with nineteen other drivers looking to implement a similar plan. "You can manage it all, but it's different every time," concluded Gasly. “No one is going to do exactly what we planned. Before the start, you can imagine a thousand things in your head. But there are, in fact, billions of possibilities. You can never know. It's all about feeling and making decisions in the moment. Of course, with experience, you can manage the start a little better."

“Depending on the tires you have, you know if you are on an attack or if you are likely to be attacked” Pierre Gasly

“Who will go too wide? Or too much on the inside? Am I going to be able to win something at the end of these first seconds of the race?” Esteban Ocon

"For me," added Ocon, "there's a big part of the preparation that happens before the race." Analyzing the placement, recognizing where the track has the best grip, detailing the opponents' tires, even looking at previous years' starts... "when we talk about the start," says the Alpine driver, " it's the whole first lap. That's when a lot happens. The cars are stuck together, touching each other on the right and on the left. You have to have eyes in front, behind, on the sides. And try to exploit the gaps. "

#sorry if some things don't make much sense but... the article sometimes doesn't make sense in french either sooo... #so it is not the translation lol #as per usual transleted with deepl and corrected by me #pierre gasly #esteban ocon #dans la tête d'un pilote de f1 #fullgaz translates

[fullgazly]

Inside the head of a F1 driver, l’Équipe -  Part 1/7

Flirting with risk, driving at 300 km/h and processing hundreds of pieces of information in a fraction of a second to make the decision that will change the race. What sensations do F1 drivers go through? Enter the brains of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon, during a Grand Prix.

Total concentration

“By picking up a racket you may be able to experience what Nadal is experiencing. By playing football, you will probably be able to touch the emotions of Messi one day. However, even if you get into my car, it will be impossible for you to imagine what we experience behind the wheel of these machines.” Lewis Hamilton

Modern Formula 1 cars are so perfect but so complicated that few human beings are able to push them to their limits and get close to the sensations they make us experience every Grand Prix weekend. Thanks to the two French drivers involved this season in the in the world championship, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, we will nevertheless try to meet the challenge.

To travel in the brain of a driver and his preparation, to try to understand what happens in their head. From the start of a Grand Prix to its end...

 (Translated with https://www.deepl.com/translator, sorry for any mistakes) 

#don't know if i'll be able to post the other parts soon but i'll try my best <33 #pierre gasly #esteban ocon #dans la tête d'un pilote de f1 #fullgaz translates