Driving the F138 - advise?

[Helmut Skrdla]

Hi all,

Despite the fact that I had the RP from release day yesterday was the first I had a serious go with the F138 Ferrari from 2013.

And the interesting thing I noticed is that with the default setup, under acceleration, shifting into 7th or 6th too early, the car will actually drop a few km/h? Like, going up Eau Rouge, going into 7th on top, you actually slow down before you get to open the DRS flap. Is the lower RPM range so un-torquey that the car can't push the air aside?

Played around with the gearing and areo, but not really sorted this effect yet. Shorter gearing runs into the limiter at about 312, well before the end of Kemmel straight, and it doesn't feel like any other gear setup I've driven round there before. Generally the interaction between gearing and aero is something I never quite understood on any car...

When do you use KERS? That's another thing I guess...

 

[Andreas Knöpke]

When do you use KERS? That's another thing I guess...

That's of course track dependent, so there is no general answer to that.

 

[PhilS13]

Yes the engine is so peaky that you lose a lot of torque at the wheels if you shift too early. It's important to go very close to limiter, a shift beep app works beautifuly for that since leds don't really help.

For KERS strategy just watch real life onboard Q laps that have the overlay and do the same. It's usually 3-4 short bursts leading onto the 3-4 longest straights.

 

[Helmut Skrdla]

Ah okay, I was doing KERS on the two longest straights. But I suppose that it loses the effect as you get closer to your aerodynamic limit.

 

[PhilS13]

Yes the most optimal is short bursts coming onto straights. For Spa they usually do on a Q lap : last corner of outlap to start line, out of T1, then in the run down to pouhon, then coming onto 2nd long straight.

On some tracks it is actually faster to be on the limiter for a few seconds on the longest straight. You lose a bit there but gain everywhere else with the slightly shorter gearing. Plenty of real life videos show it. Don't worry if you are on the limiter for a bit coming towards les combes.

 

[ramokerat]

The gear ratio is sometimes complicated to work with so i recommend downloading some setups from the forums here especially by ROBY F1. Gear ratios are very track dependent so try out ones that work to better understand them. Also I think I read somebody say that the F138 has a problem where if you shift into 7th before hitting 300 km/h it loses some power and sometimes that has happened to me.

 

[Leonardo Chaves]

Regarding gear ratios let's just say now i understand why Red Bull used to run such a short top gear, it makes perfect sense IMO, sacrifice a couple of Km/h for much better acceleration.

Also, this car has a sharp drag increase past a certain wing level.

I use small boosts of KERS on the exit of certain corners, the 2 DRS straights, the old pit straight and the old T1.

 

[Helmut Skrdla]

Thanks all of your tipps.

Also I think I read somebody say that the F138 has a problem where if you shift into 7th before hitting 300 km/h it loses some power and sometimes that has happened to me.

That's pretty much what I experienced. I will try more specific KERS and play with the gears. It's weird because most 7-Gear F1 cars round Spa to me give me the same result, even the 8-Gear Ferrari does, with few exceptions. This one... just couldn't make it fit yet.

 

[Borbor]

When do you use KERS? That's another thing I guess...

Kers coming out of slow corners. so for spa it'd be la source, no name, the corner before stavelot and out of the bus stop.

it's basically hybrid deployment. watch some of the lmp1 onboards and you'll get an idea of how they do it currently.