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DanM
Alteryx Community Team
Alteryx Community Team

Certain aspects of the Circuit of Americas track are similar to some of the world's greatest race tracks, which you might think would be an advantage for the teams. One would think in theory they could use similar car setups at those other tracks. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case. The car's design and setup is addressed for every race no matter the track's similarities to other tracks. There’s too many other variables, like the track surface, weather, tyre compounds available, and track temperatures to use the same setups.

 

Formula 1 cars are constantly changing. You may not directly see it as you look at the car week to week, but I promise you it’s different for every race. No two setups are the same and that means neither are the components of the cars. Just look at the tyre makeup. Different tracks require different tyre compounds, and even with that, it may be that the hard tyre may work better than the soft tyre and vice versa between two tracks. The cars then need to be adjusted for the tyre that works best.

 

Taking on these adjustments takes a team of dedicated engineers and mechanics to create the best setup for the car and the driver. Each car can contain approximately 80,000 components, which all need to work together in a precise way to win. This takes a lot of planning and preparations to allow the team to create the right setup as well as be flexible when conditions on the track change.

 

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McLaren Racing uses on average 30 million race simulations to understand how the F1 car will perform in as many situations as possible. This allows the team to look at the data from those situations and understand what adjustments in the design of parts of the cars will be needed for each race. For instance, the front wing may need to be different from one track to another. By running simulations with the car on that track in certain conditions, the team can then fit the correct front wing setup to create the right downforce on the car for that track. 

 

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With an average of 23 races a year and an average of 78 laps per race, teams need to run simulations for all races and laps plus all the possible scenarios that can happen on track. As you can probably imagine, getting to 30 million simulations is pretty easy.

 

These simulations are where Alteryx is helping McLaren. With that many components and simulations, McLaren has many ways to capture and store that data. In order for them to make the best decisions, they must be able to take all of those results and look at them together. The car goes through many simulations in different testing scenarios. From wind tunnel testing to even the driver feedback. McLaren uses Alteryx to bring all that data together, which then allows them to run more simulations and see how the adjustments they make affect the car and driver.

 

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As Edward Green, Head of Commercial Technology at McLaren Racing explains, “Alteryx allows the fast combination and correlation of those data sets so the teams can focus on what changes they can make that will improve performance iteratively across the course of the season.”

 

Like our other customers, McLaren sees the potential with Alteryx. This allows McLaren to get out of the dirty work of data manipulation and taking many hours to create and manage data, to a much smoother and more efficient line of analysis from beginning to end. This gives the team more time to work together to improve the performance of the car without all the pain of having to figure out how to bring the data together and analyze the data quickly enough before the next race starts. Alteryx is helping McLaren solve their problems quickly, allowing them to worry less about how long it will take to identify the problem (which as we all know costs money) and letting them focus on the solution.

 

“Alteryx is changing mindsets around how our people use data to solve problems. With the implications of the cost-cap, this change is super important,” says Green.


Check out our Alteryx and McLaren Commercial!

United States Grand Prix

Circuit of The Americas

 

This track, which opened in 2012, takes a lot of turns from other great tracks like Silverstone and Suzuka. What makes this track unique is turn one. From the starting line, drivers push hard up a dramatic hill with a blind left turn which then heads down hill. It usually makes for an epic start to the race. Sector 1 has many whipping type turns where the drivers are fighting the G-forces on both sides of their bodies. Then the long straight in sector 2 where you’ll see the cars reach over 200 mph. This track doesn’t disappoint in excitement, that is for sure.

 

Free Practice Recap

How to read: session#, best lap time, (time behind first place time) number of laps in session, best place finish in session.

 

Lando Norris #4

FP1 1m36.855s (+1.981s) 11 laps 8th

FP2 1m35.203s (+0.257s) 20 laps 2nd

FP3 1m34.945s (+0.644s) 13 laps 4th

 

Daniel Ricciardo #3

FP1 1m37.485s (+2.584s) 18 laps 16th

FP2 1m35.457s (+0.511s) 21 laps 5th 

FP3 1m35.345s (+0.644s) 11 laps 7th 

 

 

Qualifying Recap

How to Read: session#, fastest lap time, best place finish in session.

 

Lando Norris #4

Q1 1m34.551s (Softs) 5th

Q2 1m33.880s (Medium) 3rd

Q3 1m33.887s (Softs) 8th

 

Daniel Ricciardo #3

Q1 1m34.407s (Softs) 4th

Q2 1m34.643s (Medium) 9th

Q3 1m33.808s (Softs) 7th

 

 

Race Recap:

Texas went big as they always do for the United States Grand Prix. With an attendance of 400,000 people the fans were ready to go. Through the weekend it was really great to hear the cheer from the crowd as each car came out of pit lane. The enthusiasm for Formula 1 in the United States has really started to pick up.

 

Both McLarens qualified well and were looking to pounce as the lights went out to signal the start of the race. As I was biting my nails on the first turn, both McLarens rushed into the turn putting pressure on the Ferrari, which ended up off the track on the outside. This gave the Ferrari what was ruled to be an unfair advantage as the Ferrari jumped in front of both McLarens. The Ferrari then had to give the position back to Daniel Ricciardo who drove a masterful race. Daniel was able to fend off the Ferrari for the entire race. At one point the two cars dueled neck and neck and Daniel was able to prevail with some great defensive driving.

 

Lando Norris had somewhat of an uneventful afternoon until the end of the race. He seemed to be able to pick up the pace as the race went on and more than likely would have moved up another spot had there been a lap or two more of the race.

 

All in all a balanced race result for McLaren. They kept Ferrari on their toes and will be looking to continue to finish well and keep their 3rd place standing in the constructors championship.

 

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United States 2021 Podium

Points

Drivers Championship Points

Points

Constructor Championship Points

Points

Max Verstappen

25

Max Verstappen

287.5

Mercedes

460.5

Lewis Hamilton

18

Lewis Hamilton

275.5

Red Bull

437.5

Sergio Perez

15

Valtteri Bottas

185

McLaren

254

Full F1 results

 

Next Race: Mexico City Grand Prix

Date: Sunday, November 7

Track: AUTÓDROMO HERMANOS RODRÍGUEZ

Dan Menke
Community Analytics and Operations Manager

Dan is the Community Operations Manager at Alteryx. From optimizing moderation processes, to exploring new engagement techniques, Dan spends his days supporting clients by cultivating great Community experiences.

Dan is the Community Operations Manager at Alteryx. From optimizing moderation processes, to exploring new engagement techniques, Dan spends his days supporting clients by cultivating great Community experiences.

Comments
Emil_Kos
17 - Castor
17 - Castor

Hi @DanM,


Thank you for sharing. It was interesting to read.

Not sure if that is possible, but it would be interesting to look at the data itself or learn more about the simulations that McLaren is running.

DanM
Alteryx Community Team
Alteryx Community Team

@Emil_Kos  thanks for your response. Formula 1 teams are very top secret about specifics, especially with data and testing. Revealing any of those things publicly could give other teams advantages, so the teams keep these sort of things locked down. This blog also is tailored towards the casual side of analytic discussions and is not intended for specifics. We may be able to provide in the future some testing and data they did in the past, but you'll see that information on our use case pages.

Thableaus
17 - Castor
17 - Castor

Nice, I officially started cheering for McLaren this season!