When F1 cannonball along driver Zhou Guanyu ’s carskidded upside - down before somersault into the catch fenceduring Britain ’s spectacular Grand Prix at Silverstone last weekend , many were speedy to praise the railroad car ’s aim for keep open his life . polar kit like the once - opposedhalohas greatly improved machine driver safety , but when it comes to advance an F1 slipstream what has the magnanimous influence ? The number one wood , or their squad and car ?
To find out , researcher used statistical modeling to review eight seasons of F1 spanning from 2012 - 2019 , a time whenLewis Hamiltonand Mercedes were turn out to be a near - gross recipe for winning humans backup . Their results are publish in the journalApplied Economicsand reveal that long - held ideas about the influence of a number one wood , their team , and their machine on F1 racing success are n’t think over in the datum .
“ There is a long - held belief , the so - call ‘ 80 - 20 rule ’ , in F1 that the motorcar / team are responsible for for 80 percent of backwash success , while the skill of the gadget driver only accounts for 20 percent , ” said track source Duane Rockerbie from the University of Lethbridge in astatement . “ What we find , however , is that the railroad car and squad ’s input has been greatly overestimated . ”
The F1 airstream squad and motorcar were found to determine winner by nigh to 20 per centum , meanwhile , the driver ’s influence was around 15 percent . What was found to have the keen influence over F1 success was actually the way of life in which a number one wood interacts with their team , with an influence of around 30 to 40 pct .
The researchers say this demonstrates that driver ’ influence duet beyond the track , and actually contribute towards craft good airstream car and scheme , too .
“ More skilled drivers improve the recurrence to team applied science and vice - versa , ” said Rockerbie . “ After all , F1 cars do not get themselves and drivers can not ply their trade without an F1 car . The 80 - 20 rule immensely undervalue the role of the machine driver , given the critical complementarity between driver and team . ”
Money and the millions spent by F1 racing teams was also analyzed in the study , as the authors search to see if cash really was big businessman when it came to improving rank finishes .
“ A team that eat up , on intermediate , 10th place every race would need to spend an extra $ 164.6 million to finish 9th lieu systematically , ” said Rockerbie . “ This would demand an increase to both driver salary ( which currently averages at $ 7.86 million per time of year ) and team budget ( which averages at $ 195.86 million ) . ”
However , this amount varies season - on - time of year qualified on budgets and caps , and the data evince that spending big does n’t needs guarantee success if hike up machine driver salary mean sacrificing elsewhere .
“ The reappearance to hiring more drive skill ( at an assumedly higher gadget driver salary ) is positive , in terms of returning effective position finishes , but it diminishes the size of the team budget , ” said co - generator Professor Stephen Easton from Simon Fraser University .
“ The return to expend more on the team budget is positive , for finale , but fall in the size of it of the equipment driver salary . The team with the largest budget outlay overall , therefore , is most potential in the best position to win each time of year , as they can give to not lessen the car ’s performance in central for a high - quality number one wood . ”
The authors say their conclusions are put up by the lived success of F1 number one wood , as drivers , like Hamilton and Max Verstappen , who move early on in their calling to swelled - name teams with the best cars , most extensive support , and biggest budgets be given to have a good shot at the humankind championships .
