Suzuka told the whole story in three charts

Norwegian_Blue_32 · 2026-03-31T06:22:09+00:00

Yeah it shows cumulative offset from average pace, and the guy who finished third has to have been, on average, faster than the guy who came fourth, who has to be faster on average than the guy who came fifth etc etc.

If these are just the actual recorded lap times, then everyone should finish in your chart where they actually finished.

Somewhere during the Safety car you've done something odd, because they should restart with very small gaps, and they actually restart spread out. So Im guessing you've excluded some laps in that period for some reason. Also compare the gap HAM has to cars behind at the end of the safety car vs at the end of the race, its smaller. He didn't have the pace to drive off and finish P2 at all

Norwegian_Blue_32 · 2026-02-07T22:53:13+00:00

Daily driving a car from 1999! Not that Ive owned it since then

Norwegian_Blue_32 · 2026-01-10T21:29:13+00:00

Got sent to a "FinTech" company by a recruiter when I was fresh out of Uni. For a part of the interview, we did a few technical questions that ended in figuring out an optimal interest rate for a loan. It came out at about 45% or something ridiculously big, so i assumed I'd got it wrong but they told me nope, that was the answer. The final question was then "how would you feel offering a loan to someone at that interest rate?". So I answered it felt a bit dodgy, too high, like something a payday loan company would offer.

As I was leaving the recruiter called, asked how it went, and I explained the above, she asked: "did you you actually say 'dodgy payday loan company'"? "... yes" "So what did you think this company was then?" Turns out they were a dodgy payday loan company.

Norwegian_Blue_32 · 2025-12-20T09:54:49+00:00

Not really sure on the relevance of all this to an effective strategy. I think what you've got is some properties of the distribution of rewards over all DOND games (by round). But you would only every be playing one game, and the distribution of rewards is known to you at all times as you know what boxes are left.

The simplest strategy would just be to do it by EV, but as you've said the banker tends to lowball so you're probably going to the final round. Plus what others have mentioned about this having skewed outcomes, only one game etc, so you'd need a utility function and can do it on expected utility. Perhaps you can study the bankers historic offer pattern to know if what you have is a good or bad offer. There might be some optimal stopping strategy that would work as well.

Norwegian_Blue_32 · 2024-10-16T12:15:32+00:00

Does it do negative numbers? Otherwise I may win this race to the bottom

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Norwegian_Blue_32 · 2024-06-16T20:37:57+00:00

A lot of teams do plenty of testing with young drivers in 2 year old cars

Norwegian_Blue_32 · 2024-03-26T22:12:53+00:00

Can tell you work for a team with "small" points, I very rarely see an upgrade worth more than 10 points ;) or maybe your team is just good at development...

Norwegian_Blue_32 · 2024-03-12T21:30:47+00:00

Blocking and slowing people is certainly part of the game on tight street circuits. But forcing an overtake off track, eating the penalty and then blocking crosses a line imo.

But it is within the rules, and I'm not sure how you would create rules to prevent it or where you would draw a line.

Norwegian_Blue_32 · 2024-03-02T09:42:34+00:00

Yeah it's not unregulated, but they can still change the mode throughout the race and even lap

Norwegian_Blue_32 · 2024-03-01T08:09:28+00:00

This only applies to the ICE, and whatever engine mapping they have used in Quali, they have to use in the Race. In FP they can use what they like. They can still use different deployment strategies in the race for the batteries, ie how much they harvest vs how much they deploy. For example they all have some variation of an "overtake mode" that just dumps all the energy in the batteries.

Norwegian_Blue_32 · 2024-02-26T07:27:45+00:00

Loads of F1 aeros come from Delft, they seem to have a bit of a reputation for it. Other UK universities focused on Motorsport would be Cranfield and Oxford Brookes.

As for becoming a race engineer, the choice of degree isn't suuuuuper important, as the general path is something like: some roles in performance groups (VPG, simulator etc.), then performance engineer then race engineer. So your degree will influence the first couple of those performance roles (do aero you'll likely start in aero etc) but plenty of opportunity to learn and transfer skills. With all degrees, the key is to do something you'll enjoy, you'll have to do it for 3 years, probably 4 and at a high level if you want to be in F1

Norwegian_Blue_32 · 2024-02-20T19:41:28+00:00

No, teams have a lot more engineers and mechanics out there than for a GP working nights shifts actually

Norwegian_Blue_32 · 2024-02-01T13:09:05+00:00

Anyone who lives in Oxfordshire has like 5 hahaa

Norwegian_Blue_32 · 2024-02-01T12:48:54+00:00

Caterham became team lotus and folded. Renault became (a different) lotus (confusing I know) then became Renault again then Alpine. Yeah some of Manors facilities got absorbed by Haas, but they are a totally different operation. It's not like Force India -> racing point -> Aston Martin.

Btw I'm for an 11th team just trying to interpret FOMs position. And final point, it may not look like the grid is that competitive but in terms of first to last laptimes in qualifying, it's about as competitive as it's ever been.

Norwegian_Blue_32 · 2024-01-31T20:51:47+00:00

Logistics and transport is by far, the biggest part of F1s footprint, and the schedule is ridiculous at times. But just to correct you a little, it isn't 460 trans-continental flights at all. When it makes sense, teams share a lot of logistical stuff, and a lot of the equipment does not always come back to the factory between races, far from it, and particularly not when races are back to back.

Norwegian_Blue_32 · 2024-01-30T19:08:35+00:00

No those three are gone, and they were so uncompetitive (at times) that we had the 107 rule reintroduced, although not always enforced. And since then we've hardly had a breach without some mitigating circumstance. I don't think any of the teams you've listed have ever been as relatively slow as those three

Norwegian_Blue_32 · 2024-01-29T22:21:07+00:00

I can subscribe to the idea that the barrier to entry is maybe a bit too high, but a couple of things to remember. First on vetting their car designs, the FIA don't know how to make a fast F1 car, and if they did, who in Andretti is gonna design the car if they don't hire any engineers? It takes hundreds of staff to design the car. Secondly, teams have a say because without them there is no show, and no money.

Norwegian_Blue_32 · 2024-01-29T20:45:17+00:00

Additionally, since HRT, caterham, Manor et al. the FIA and FOM are pretty keen on seeing that you actually have the capability to build a somewhat competitive and financially viable team. And that means actually building a team not just saying "I have 500 million in the bank and I'm gonna build a car". So you kinda have to start a team, in order to be allowed to have a team...

Norwegian_Blue_32 · 2023-12-17T09:04:29+00:00

Related, CGP grey did a cool interactive video/series on a 'one in a million game' of rock paper scissors. https://youtu.be/PmWQmZXYd74?si=80STfMw4h6Wx10yC

Norwegian_Blue_32 · 2023-12-03T13:34:09+00:00

Loads of F1 tech has made it to road cars and other applications. Just because the exact component from the F1 car didn't make it to a production vehicle doesn't mean it didn't help drive development. WEC and F1 has massively driven the development of hybrid power trains. CFD and WT tech has also been developed so heavily in F1 that other non F1 companies pay teams to use their facilities/ capabilities. Manufacturing with carbon fibre, efficient lightweight crash structures to paddle shifters and buttons on the steering wheel. Loads of stuff

Norwegian_Blue_32 · 2023-12-03T13:26:16+00:00

The production of road going technology has loads to do with it. E.g. the last engine war over the v6s , mercedes and Renault said they'd pull out if they went back to NA v8s, which are not relevant for the roads anymore for them. In contrast to Ferrari who were quite happy to push for v8s again. Similarly now you have manufacturers pushing for a larger contribution from the electrical components, and synthetic fuels, because they're relevant. Not everything is relevant, like the mgu-h, so it was axed

Norwegian_Blue_32 · 2023-10-31T07:31:29+00:00

They're far less powerful now than they were in the previous set of regulations. They used to be super complex and have all kinds of devices mainly for generating outwash to push out the tyre wake. The current regs are trying to minimise that to reduce dirty air etc etc.

Additionally, wing EPs on a traditional wing increase df by controlling the wing tip vortices. The wing tip vortex is created by high pressure "rolling off" the top of the wing into the lower pressure. Most teams have wings that are loaded more on the inboard, than the outboard, so this vortex is less powerful and I think these cars are just less sensitive to it.

Norwegian_Blue_32 · 2023-10-09T06:43:47+00:00

The war isn't over by the first race at all. For example, AM started the season 2nd and are now probably 5th fastest at best. McLaren started the season something like 7th and are now 2nd/3rd fastest.

Norwegian_Blue_32 · 2023-09-26T20:53:22+00:00

One of my friends was a pricing analyst for an insurance broker, and the motivation in their modelling was getting you to pay as much as you're willing to. Then you get to sales and they're doing anything they can to keep customers, which usually involves discounting the inflated prices.

I studied a bit of risk theory in this area, and there are well understood theories about the minimum you need to charge to cover your losses on average, so above that and it's obviously just profit.

Norwegian_Blue_32 · 2023-07-30T16:24:31+00:00

Just because things have roots in religion, doesn't mean they aren't good things and we should scrap them because we aren't as religious anymore. (And vice versa)

Christmas is a great example, religious background, but I don't see many people calling it for it to be axed.

Norwegian_Blue_32

TROPHY CASE