Power and Drag Estimation – Ferrari vs Mercedes : motorsports

Proper from the primary race, a reversal of energy between the Ferrari engine and the Mercedes has been seen: the upper tempo of the F1-75 in comparison with the W13 is, in truth, additionally on account of larger engine energy, as is clear from the higher acceleration within the first half of the straight in comparison with the second. However how a lot is the facility distinction? And which of the 2 vehicles has the least drag?

To do that, I took the velocity of each vehicles and used them to calculate the acceleration (doing the time spinoff). This worth is clearly affected by the observe’s slope at that time, so I calculated this slope from the elevation and travelled distance GPS information and used it to right the beforehand derived acceleration.

At this level, I noticed the acceleration for every velocity worth: every remark is a degree on the graph. As I anticipated, the upper the velocity, the decrease the automobile’s acceleration: because the engine has roughly fixed energy, the drive with which it pushes the car ahead decreases because the velocity will increase: P=F*v, so F=P/v. Moreover, as velocity will increase, the drive of aerodynamic resistance will increase, with velocity squared. The equation linking acceleration and velocity is proven above.

Workforce engineers know the engine energy P and the drag coefficient D of the automobile and may use the components above to calculate the acceleration a for a given velocity v. What I did was to purpose within the reverse approach**: I already know acceleration and velocity (by way of telemetry), however I do not know energy and drag. So, I can discover the curve that finest describes the information** utilizing regression and derive the facility and drag values.

So we see that Ferrari’s curve is all the time above Mercedes’, which implies that Ferrari accelerates higher at each velocity! At medium speeds, it’s favoured by its larger energy, and at excessive speeds by its decrease drag and its larger energy. From the values from regression, I can say that the Ferrari engine has about 2% extra energy than the Mercedes, or about 20hp, which supplies a bonus of about 0.4s/rev. The aerodynamic drag of the Ferrari can also be 1.6% lower than that of the Mercedes. So the W13 has each an influence downside and a excessive drag downside, confirming what we have heard mentioned! Now we most likely have extra correct numbers.

For the regression, I took sections with DRS open, 100% throttle, and brake off into consideration. The circuit is Bahrain, because the straights are quite a few and canopy an intensive velocity vary.

I hope you loved the evaluation! You will discover me on Twitter (https://twitter.com/F1DataAnalysis) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/f1dataanalysis/) for additional evaluation! I’ll attempt to reply all of your feedback and questions 😉