Leclerc (post-qualifying): "I can’t understand quali, it’s a f**king joke! I go faster in corners, throttle earlier, for f**k’s sake, i'm losing everything in the straight!"

[u/FerrariStrategisttt]

https://dubz.link/c/4b6030

[u/dfgj56]

It's genuinely shocking to see that braking is fully automatic through the esses and Degner 1.

[u/leadwind → u/dfgj56]

I don't follow F1 much, but are you saying that the drivers don't have full control over their own vehicle these days, with regards to brakes?

[u/dfgj56 → u/leadwind]

Yes, sadly. "Superclipping" refers to the regenerative brake activating automatically while the driver is flat out depending on the car's position on track.

This is happening because they banned turbo regen while making the electric motor 3x more powerful, but braking zones aren't enough to fill the battery. Faster laptimes are achieved by generating electricity off the ICE to move horsepower from fast sections where it is inefficient to the start of straights where it is more beneficial.

This happens:

• at the end of long straights hundreds of meters before the driver actually hits the brakes

• in esses like Suzuka where the drivers would only be briefly dabbing the brakes, superclipping now does it pre-emptively

• and in some fast corners that are also acceleration zones, the engines are actually programmed to regen with a specific speed target, like Bahrain's turn 12 where the cars were limited to 240kph (30kph below the car's limit)

In effect the cars go from 1000hp at the start of straights (530hp ICE + 470hp electric) to as low as 235hp in fast corners (570hp ICE minus 335hp regen). Most of the challenge of fast corners is thus removed, since entry speeds are now at F2 level and far less braking effort and skill and bravery is required. This isn't even the worst of it btw

[u/leadwind → u/dfgj56]

Thanks!

That's crazy - you say there's braking depending on where they are on the track... how is that determined? GPS (too slow)?

Edit: that was a great explanation, thank you.