Lewis Hamilton anwers to questions

Q: Do you ever get bored in a Formula 1 car? I don't mean in the intense races, but for example in the second Friday practice while testing some minor changes in the setup, driving on a long straight, have you ever secretly yawned?

LH: I don’t think you can get bored in these cars because it’s so much fun. I’ve done some straight line testing, which becomes very repetitive but nonetheless it’s still not boring, it’s still driving a F1 car but it just gets very repetitive. You don’t exactly fall asleep, but that can be quite a long day, but otherwise, racing on race weekends is never boring.


Q: What are the main similarities and differences between Formula 1 and NASCAR race cars?

LH: I think it’s potentially a little bit easier to over-take in NASCAR. In Formula 1, it’s so difficult and that’s why they keep changing the rules and trying to make it easier for us to overtake, but it’s very tough to get close in order to do so. NASCAR perhaps makes it a little bit easier for the drivers to be closer to each other and to then give themselves the opportunity to overtake. I think that that would perhaps suit me; I’d probably love it! Otherwise, I think there’s just a certain way you have to drive a F1 car to use all the downforce and grip that you have, whereas with a stock car I think you just want mostly mechanical grip. But I think it was really cool to just be doing shifting again with a real gear stick and to have a clutch. It had great power and pretty good brakes as well. I think it was talked down to me a little bit, you know, “you’re probably not going to enjoy this as much”... but I was smiling the whole time.


McLaren Test Team Manager Indy Lall anwers to questions

Q: Do you feel that aerodynamics have too significant a part in Formula One (compared to NASCAR’s low-maintenance approach), even though they enable superior performance?

INDY: Well, the rules are in Formula One that you are allowed aerodynamics and you’ve got to work within those regulations. The teams are all doing this and in fact, the clever designers and engineers are making groundbreaking moves. In NASCAR you’re very restricted. Whilst this is an equal playing field for all the teams, and from qualifying on pole to being last on the grid there’s under half a second difference, in F1 there’s obviously a much bigger gap. That bigger gap is down to the teams actually extracting maximum out of the regulations.


Q: What kinds of technical changes to F1 cars will be needed for the 2013 season, if there is indeed a changeover to 4-cylinder turbocharged engines?

INDY: With going over to a smaller engine, I think the immediate thing is going to be weight and I guess it depends what sort of fuel consumption that is going to carry. If it’s going to be a thirsty engine then obviously you are going to carry more fuel. It’s going to be quite a challenge, packaging a smaller engine so it gives the engineers more capacity to explore aerodynamically how you develop the car overall. So I think the biggest groundbreaker will be aerodynamics and reliability from the new components such as the engine.