Q&A with Nick Chester (Lotus) before Mexico

Lotus F1 Team Technical Director Nick Chester considers the challenges presented by the return of the Mexican Grand Prix at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

What are the technical and engineering challenges of the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez?

There’s one very notable factor about the location of the Mexican Grand Prix and that’s the altitude. Mexico City is located at over 2200 metres and surrounded by mountains, some over 5000 metres. The altitude of the track means less dense air. Previously, with naturally aspirated engines, the air density would make quite a difference to engine power, but turbo-charged engines are less affected by this due to their forced induction. The current generation Formula 1 cars also have electrical power deployment, with the energy recovery and subsequent deployment not susceptible to air density variation. The altitude isn’t only relevant to engine performance however, there is also cooling and aerodynamics to consider. The less dense air provides less downforce and drag than we would produce at sea level. Because of this we could see some pretty fruity speeds along the start-finish straight. Less dense air also means you can’t cool everything you want to be cooled as well as would be the case at lower ground levels.

How do you approach a new circuit?

We get a good set of information relating to layout which we can start producing simulations from. This gives us an idea of a baseline start set-up and downforce levels. Pirelli do their track surface analysis which gives us an idea of how much energy will be put through the tyres from the surface itself once Pirelli have chosen their allocation – which is medium and soft once more for this weekend. Once we get to the track itself we can get out and have a good look at things like kerb heights, specific bumps, camber and other elements. Once we’ve done all that, it’s up to Pastor and Romain to jump in their cars and get out there.

Should the layout suit the E23 Hybrid?

The start-finish straight is of a decent length which should allow the E23 to stretch its legs pretty well, then there’s a nice mix of different corner types over what is a relatively short track. The track is likely to be quite low grip and that coupled with reduced downforce due to altitude and a relatively conservative tyre compound selection will provide a challenge for getting the tyres in their working temperature range.

What other factors are relevant for this weekend?

It looks like there’s a decent chance of rain again. This will make things very interesting as drivers and engineers could find themselves trying to learn a new venue with the moving target of a wet track. A wet track is a pain for finding car set-up at the best of times, but on a new track this difficulty is compounded. It’s a new track surface so we’d expect the surface to be slippery event when dry. Add in potential rainfall and the oils which usually emanate from a new surface and we might have to approach the initial sessions pretty gingerly.

A topic for a few teams at the moment; what are the considerations regarding changing engine supplier when looking at development for next year’s car?

We have experience of this as we changed manufacturer for this season. It is a big change but any change for 2016 is still to the same regulations. When we changed from the naturally aspirated V8s to the current V6 turbo configuration it was a substantial difference. With the current regulations maturing both the engine manufacturers and teams know more of what’s needed in terms of installation and cooling etc. Certainly for any team having a late call on engine change it’s a pretty intense timeframe for next year, but no-one ever said Formula 1 was easy.