Blog: Friday night in the garage
Up and down the pit lane, Friday evening has become one of the busiest times of the race weekend. It’s not uncommon to see mechanics burning the midnight oil as they strip and rebuild the cars after free practice, and there’s even the occasional all-nighter when the mechanics forgo sleep to ensure everything is shipshape for Saturday morning.So why is Friday night such a busy time for the mechanics? Well, it’s mainly because they have to take the car to pieces, replace components, fit new (...)
Up and down the pit lane, Friday evening has become one of the busiest times of the race weekend. It’s not uncommon to see mechanics burning the midnight oil as they strip and rebuild the cars after free practice, and there’s even the occasional all-nighter when the mechanics forgo sleep to ensure everything is shipshape for Saturday morning.
So why is Friday night such a busy time for the mechanics? Well, it’s mainly because they have to take the car to pieces, replace components, fit new upgrades, and then put it all back together again. And that takes quite a bit of time.
But before the guys can strip the car, there are a few procedural tasks to complete, including another fire-up of the engine, a set-up check, draining of the fuel, and putting the car on high stands for easy access.
It’s then that the job list arrives from the engineers, outlining all the changes that are needed on the car. Whether it’s fitting a new aero part or changing the gear ratios, it’s the engineers who make the call and issue this important document.
So by about 9pm this evening, both R30s will have been reduced to bare chassis with no engine or gearbox attached. The car will be just a tub – a survival cell for the driver. But it’s then that the tide starts to turn as the rebuild begins, fitting the parts that will be run in final free practice and qualy the next day.
Of course, with an aggressive development programme, last minute parts and upgrades often arrive at the track throughout the weekend, especially on Friday evening because this is the last chance to fit them before qualifying.
The team manager will always try and send some of the crew back to the hotel as soon as possible for some precious sleep, but there’s a core group of guys who always remain with the car until the bitter end to ensure it’s complete for Saturday morning. And you never hear them complaining. They just knuckle down and do the job. It’s all part of being in a team and pulling out all the stops when we have to.
Comment
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Comment by Petron@s on July 31, 2010 at 3:47pm -
Sorry, but... What the heck happened in Q3... Why KUB so late exit the pits?!
HUGE disapointment ;(( Where is second row...
PET not bad... ;)))
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Comment by Tony on July 31, 2010 at 3:28pm -
Well it shows that those long nights do pay off. A very big well done to all the team for getting both cars into Q3 and good positions. I am also very happy to see that Petrov has now shown he has the pace and can also match him team mate. Tomorrow is another day but it would be great if both car can bring home good points.
I also noticed in one of the pictures a team member working on the front end, brakes I think and that he also works hard on the Renault road show cars.........
Again well done to the team and best of luck for tomorrow...........
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Comment by GW on July 31, 2010 at 1:43pm -
RF1PP - thanks for clarifying!
As for the final practice - really encouraging results. We are clearly ahead of Merc and will likely mix it with Ferrari and McL which is not bad at all!
RBR seem to be in its own league. Having said that it will be interesting to see how Mr. Horner will play this between Vettel and Webbo. He will definitely not want the story from Turkish GP to repeat, but on the other had will have to avoid "Ferrari way". Clearly it will be up to the RBR due to fight for the pole and victory.
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Comment by 40Shades on July 31, 2010 at 1:15pm - red bulls might be away free but looks like RF1 have the edge on not only merc but mclaren here also...great stuff and good driving from Vitaly again here, i wish him the best of luck as this is close as he gets to home race right !
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Comment by Kris G on July 31, 2010 at 12:39pm - Red Bulls are from a different universe. Incredible. It looks like their car is made for this track. Renault is looking good just behind Ferrari in fp3. Good luck in quali ! Go Robert & Vitaly !
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Comment by RF1 Paddock Pass on July 31, 2010 at 12:22pm - So final free practice is complete and less than two hours until qualy begins. We’ve had another promising session with Robert in P4 and Vitaly in P7, and they both seem fairly happy with their cars. There are a few changes to be made by the mechanics ahead of qualy, but on the whole the cars are well sorted for this afternoon. We’ve definitely got a good chance of getting both cars in Q3.
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Comment by RF1 Paddock Pass on July 31, 2010 at 12:18pm
- Hi GW, I have to amit that the final photo was not taken at Hungary. I dug it out of the archives to help tell the story in this blog. Well spotted!
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Comment by Petron@s on July 31, 2010 at 12:08pm
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looking forward for quali... ;))
RK - P4: nice result to repeat or be faster...
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Comment by Quidam on July 31, 2010 at 9:50am - GW : it's not because this front wing is in the garage that it's this one running this friday. It's better un spare one in case of crash.
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Comment by GW on July 31, 2010 at 1:13am
- the front wing in the last picture is an old one, isn't it? is that because of track characteristics that we go back to the wing that was probably used in Monaco?
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