Mercedes is running two different W17s in Singapore. The latest evolution for Antonelli, an earlier version for Russell. Direct comparison. And Toto Wolff says the team doesn’t yet know which one will be quicker.
I do. Well, in my bedroom.
I built two setups this morning on my version of Marina Bay, one with the front wing I imagine for the evolution, one without. Same tyres, same fuel, same driver, me. Wolff’s principle, roughly: the same equipment for everyone. At my place that’s easy, there’s only one cockpit and it takes up seventy per cent of the room.
Result: the evolution is two tenths a lap quicker. Fine. My lap has no Singapore heat, no walls closing in, no start from the back of the grid. Russell starts from the back because he has gone over his allocation of power unit components. My sim can’t handle that: at mine, the engine is brand new after every reset.
Then there’s that line from Wolff, in Singapore: “Do they think I have a button that says ‘George engine failure now’”. I checked. In the sim, that button exists. It’s called “mechanical failures”, it’s in the options, and I’ve always left it switched off. Nobody plays with it. Not even the lobby, and the lobby plays with everything.
At Fabienne Racing, we’ve switched breakdowns off as well. They switch themselves back on on the N5.
Antonelli leads Russell by 84 points with seven Grands Prix to go. Wolff says Mercedes will give Russell the same chances to the end. In the sim, that’s called a ghost: you race against the same lap, in the same car, until you beat it. Mercedes is running two different ghosts and waiting for the data.
Two tenths. In theory.
It’s true, we checked: Nextgen-Auto · Formule 1.
