Race strategy – the driver's
view
Sir Jackie Stewart quoted fellow-Scot Robert Burns as he warned against relying too heavily on Formula One's laptop strategists.
Sir Jackie Stewart quoted fellow-Scot Robert Burns as he warned against relying too heavily on Formula One's laptop strategists.
Sophisticated computer simulation will play a bigger role in the 2008 championship than ever before, with races being won and lost on the pit wall.
But in acknowledging the role modern technology can play, the RBS ambassador and three-time world champion insisted that F1's most important strategists would still be sitting behind the steering wheel.
"Drivers must be the decision makers," he said.
Sir Jackie, who won the last of his 27 races at the Nürburgring in 1973, has watched as technology has transformed the sport.
"There is no doubt that race strategy is considerably more sophisticated and complicated than ever before," he said.
"With computer simulation, teams can forecast almost to a decimal point the exact time each lap will take – before they even reach the race track.
"Teams can predict tyre and brake wear, simulate the fuel load and decide how many stops for fuel in the race might produce the most opportunities for winning.
"But as Burns once said, 'The best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft a-gley'."
The ability to prepare for the unexpected – and, more importantly, to react quickly when it happens – will, says Sir Jackie, separate the winners and losers this season.
"Race strategy has to be done on the run and very often, only the driver knows how difficult the car is to keep on the track, or how difficult it is to keep at a pace that will produce results.
"The more experienced the driver is; the more he's won, the better he will be at knowing what to do."
The opposite is also true, and Sir Jackie also recognised that when a driver has a bad day at the office it can wreak havoc with even the most carefully considered pre-race strategy.
"Let's say he over-drives the race car. That means his tyre temperatures change in a way an anesthetised computed could not possibly have predicted. Suddenly, the projected 'best' strategy could end in disappointment."
Of course, as someone who knows better than most what it takes to win not just Grands Prix but entire championships, Sir Jackie sees strategy as a season-long challenge. It's about the possibility of sacrificing risky win-or-bust strategies for world championship points.
"Strategy in Formula One means many things," he said. "It's much more than deciding on which laps to stop for fuel."
