2018 Rolex Australian Grand Prix

[lkjohnson1950]

Mercedes is now saying a glitch in their strategy software caused them to let Hamilton allow too big a gap between himself and Vettel opening the door to the pitstop pass under the VSC that gave Vettel the win.  Strategy software??   

[Scott]

Hehe...Hamilton will of course from now on be sceptical of pit wall instructions regarding strategy.  Strategy software indeed...hilarious.

[Jericoke]

Mercedes is now saying a glitch in their strategy software caused them to let Hamilton allow too big a gap between himself and Vettel opening the door to the pitstop pass under the VSC that gave Vettel the win.  Strategy software??   

The idea isn't that hard really.  They manually calculate speed deltas to figure out over/undercuts.  Software to do that SHOULD be fairly trivial.

I assume as a German car company they've made things far more complicated than necessary.

[Alianora La Canta]

Mercedes is now saying a glitch in their strategy software caused them to let Hamilton allow too big a gap between himself and Vettel opening the door to the pitstop pass under the VSC that gave Vettel the win.  Strategy software??   

The idea isn't that hard really.  They manually calculate speed deltas to figure out over/undercuts.  Software to do that SHOULD be fairly trivial.

I assume as a German car company they've made things far more complicated than necessary.

In this case, from what I've seen, the glitch was "they forgot to take into account that pit-lane exiters aren't bound by the Safety Car delta time restrictions between the safety car line and the pit exit line".

[lkjohnson1950]

YEP!

[Calman]

In this case, from what I've seen, the glitch was "they forgot to take into account that pit-lane exiters aren't bound by the Safety Car delta time restrictions between the safety car line and the pit exit line".

It's as simple as that!!! .. and as F1 is "top of the technical tree" ... we are all amazed that they didn't figure this out, 30 seconds after it happened (we did!!!).  It's not rocket science after all.

All the best,
Cal

[Alianora La Canta]

In this case, from what I've seen, the glitch was "they forgot to take into account that pit-lane exiters aren't bound by the Safety Car delta time restrictions between the safety car line and the pit exit line".

It's as simple as that!!! .. and as F1 is "top of the technical tree" ... we are all amazed that they didn't figure this out, 30 seconds after it happened (we did!!!).  It's not rocket science after all.

All the best,
Cal

Probably someone in Brackley did figure it out; it just took the best part of a week to get their opinion through the layers of technocracy and PR clearance for this to be officially declared the real reason. Only leaders get direct commenting access to the public, Toto Wolff is always cautious when it comes to admitting weaknesses and Niki Lauda prefers to talk about people rather than computers (which in this context would be too much like shooting the messenger or lecturing staff in public - something even Niki reserves for people who can argue back equally publically).

[Scott]

Wow, but before we throw a genius crown on Ferrari, do you think THEY actually knew it or was it just a gamble?

[Calman]

Wow, but before we throw a genius crown on Ferrari, do you think THEY actually knew it or was it just a gamble?

I personally think it was a complete fluke, but one which Ferrari are glad that current rules allow!

All the best,
Cal

[lkjohnson1950]

Of course you can't plan a VSC, but when it happened Ferrari recognized the situation and took advantage. Merc failed to plan for it and got caught out.

[Calman]

That's pretty much it, so can we now expect a "new rule" for setting a delta, while trickling down the pit lane during a VSC period?

All the best
Cal

[Jericoke]

Of course you can't plan a VSC, but when it happened Ferrari recognized the situation and took advantage. Merc failed to plan for it and got caught out.

Pick your saying, "Luck favours the prepared" or "You make your own luck".

In F1 it's not enough to be lucky, but to be ready to seize that moment of luck.

[Jericoke]

That's pretty much it, so can we now expect a "new rule" for setting a delta, while trickling down the pit lane during a VSC period?

All the best
Cal

If McLaren had hopped over Ferrari using this loophole, they'd already be fined back to the stone age.   

As long as it favours Ferrari, I don't see the FIA changing anything.

[John S]

Of course you can't plan a VSC, but when it happened Ferrari recognized the situation and took advantage. Merc failed to plan for it and got caught out.

Bit harsh Lonny, Merc will have planned for it - they just got their sums wrong.
Hey wait a minute that's worse, at this level, than not planning at all. 
Looks like fair comment after all.

[Scott]

Bit harsh Lonny, Merc will have planned for it - they just got their sums wrong.

What gives you that idea?  To me it seemed like Ferrari did something that Merc didn’t anticipate and they really were quite surprised as if they hadn’t included that eventuality (that Ferrari would be allowed to run above the VCR delta during the pit in and out bits) in their calculations.  It didn’t seem like they just had their numbers wrong, it was more like they hadn’t realized Vettel could speed up on the way into and out of the pits.