Race strategy – the engineer's view
Former race engineer Gary Anderson has offered a unique insight to life on the pit wall. And he believes that's where this season's F1 World Championship will be won and lost.
Former race engineer Gary Anderson has offered a unique insight to life on the pit wall. And he believes that's where this season's F1 World Championship will be won and lost.
The Northern Irishman was technical director at Jordan during some of their most successful times, and helped mastermind the Stewart Grand Prix team's only race win at the Nürburgring in 1999.
Now, Gary's been signed up by RBS World of Sport to provide post-race analysis throughout the 2008 season.
"Race strategy is a living thing," he said. "It's got to evolve during the course of a race – and the best place to do that is from the pit wall.
"You're really the driver, to be honest. You're calling the tune, and you're calling the tune with a lot more information than the driver's got.
"The driver can only see what's happening in his own car, and the cars around him. The guy on the pit wall has a monitor that can tell him what all 22 drivers are doing.
"Of course, I'm talking about people like Ross Brawn (ex-Ferrari and now Honda) and Pat Symonds (Renault); not a young guy with his laptop and an Excel spreadsheet.
"You need experience and the ability to read the signs – to look at the clouds, to look at other teams, to make decisions quickly."
Gary pinpointed last season's Chinese Grand Prix, where poor pit strategy by the McLaren team and a failure to make quick decisions may have cost Lewis Hamilton the drivers' championship.
And he contrasted it with his own experience with the Stewart team at the European Grand Prix in 1999. "Johnny Herbert was coming down the pit lane for a scheduled stop and we saw huge black clouds overhead," recalled Gary. "We immediately said, 'let's put on wets'. Within 40 seconds, the rain was bucketing down and Johnny went on to win."
Stewart upset the odds in 1999 but big shocks are few and far between. This season, Gary believes there will be races within races. "There will be three types of team following very different strategies," he said.
"The back of the grid people have no way of winning – they're just not competitive. They'll adopt high-risk strategies and try and do something different that wins them a few places.
"The mid-field guys will be more cautious. They know that if they chunter along and keep their heads down, cars in front of them may fall foul and they'll get a result in the odd race.
"The front-end guys are racing for the big prize – the world championship. There are 18 races and you've got to score as many points as possible in all 18 to win.
"But whatever team it is, watching their strategies this season is going to be fascinating."
