| The Spanish Grand Prix. Round 5. - 29th April 2001 Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona. |
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| Race Preview | |||
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This weekend the Formula One circus heads to Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix. Of all the race tracks on the calendar, the Circuit de Catalyuna is probably the best known as more testing takes place here, than any other circuit. Generally, if a car is fast on this track, it will be on the other circuits. Circuit de Catalunya has a good mixture of fast and slow corners with undulating bumps, so can produce a tough race. The long corners cause high tyre wear and understeer, and overtaking is difficult here so a good qualifying and pit stop strategy is crucial. The start-finish straight is one of the longest of all the F1 circuits, at close to one mile and drivers can top 190mph before braking into the first corner.
“This is another circuit I like a lot,” commented Jarno. “The car is well balanced and has performed very well so far this year, so we just hope we can prove our potential in this next race. The high speed corners require good physical fitness and makes the circuit quite technical, which is the main reason many teams test in Barcelona.”
As a further step towards achieving the goals shared by Jordan and Honda, 2001 has seen an enhanced engineering structure for the Benson and Hedges Jordan Honda team with the addition of a third engineer on each race car. Traditionally, Jordan has operated with one race engineer and one data engineer per car - the race engineer working directly with the driver while the data engineer gathers information gleaned from telemetry screens at the back of the garage. This system involved an onerous work load for the race engineer who was responsible not only for car set-up, but numerous other functions, including checking the legality of his car and liaising with mechanics and other race team members. For 2001, Jordan has strengthened its team by bringing on board assistant engineers to streamline its working practices.
The presence of an assistant engineer also saves time in other ways. While the race engineer converses with his driver, he often has to divide his thoughts between the driver and other car issues. Leaving the latter to the assistant engineers means he can concentrate fully on the driver and not miss any feedback or information. "At the same time, it is also a very good learning curve for the young engineers, as we want them to progress into the number one role in the future," adds Holloway. During a typical track session at a race, the driver comes in at the end of a run, talking on the radio. Ultimately he is talking to everyone, including all three of his engineers. It is the race engineer who makes the decisions but he needs information from the data engineer and also has to be aware of what is going on with the other car. "During a session it is very difficult to liaise between the two cars, because each group is very blinkered and focused on its own driver," continues Holloway. "This problem is now made easier as the assistant engineer can listen in to the radio communications of the other car, while the race engineer is concentrating solely on his own car. That extra information helps the race engineer in his decision making. You should never underestimate how much you can learn from the other car. Unlike the way we work at Jordan, in other teams some drivers don't work together, and I am sure that affects their performances.” The assistant engineers also attend the technical debriefs. As Holloway explains, “While these meetings are going on, there are so many people needing immediate decisions as mechanics pull the car apart and possibly find something that is not quite right. Whereas in the past the race engineer would have to interrupt the meeting to sort out issues in the garage, now the assistant engineer can filter out the important items which cuts down the briefing time. When you consider that Jordan holds around fifteen briefings (ten attended by the drivers) in the course of a race weekend, the new system is a major time saver and a huge improvement in working practices.” The arrival of Honda as engine partner has added to the workload. "Mugen were very good people who did an excellent job on limited resources," recalls Holloway. "But we had very few meetings as their personnel were busy with other aspects of the job, whereas Honda have additional engineers so the meetings are more intense now, but for the right reasons. They can work in Tokyo while we are at the track. Even back at our base there are many people working unsocial hours on the seven post rig while we are at the track. You cannot underestimate how Jordan relies on the guys back at base during a race weekend." Holloway is happy with the way the three engineer system has worked out so far this season, but expects the real benefits to make themselves felt in the second half of the season where in the past, fatigue amongst race engineers might have affected performance.
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| The Current 2001 Standings |
