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TEAM SPIRIT
While the race engineer has to set up the chassis and engine to suit his driver, the head of race engineering must look at the bigger picture and strive to make sure that both sides of the garage are seamlessly cooperating. In a way, Rocquelin sits in the middle of two clans that are both united and rival.
“My job is not to focus on what happens within the next five minutes, or during the upcoming stint, etc.,” Rocky continues. “The main difference between the two jobs is the length of the projects you are working on and the impact you have on the car.
“A race engineer assists a driver and works on one car, session to session: it’s both tailor-made and short-term. The chief engineer is going to analyse how both cars have improved between two grand prix weekends.
For instance, s-he can feel that the car setups are going down such or such development path and tries to see where that will leave the team in one race of two.”
The head of race engineering always tries to anticipate the medium-term consequences of setup changes that are decided instantaneously.
“In the heat of the moment, a race engineer can decide to resolve an issue in a certain way because he knows that it will work right away for his driver. However, s-he might not pay too much attention whether that will benefit the other car as well.
“My job is to put things in perspective and tell that engineer: ‘Alright, you did this and it has worked fine, but bear in mind that if you carry on doing it, you might end up compromising the car’s overall performance in two or three races’ time, while also missing out on its full potential.
“The goal is to reach a setup that is ideal for both cars, even if that means leading a driver and his engineer to a different path. Let’s say the team has only brought one new front wing and you leave it on the table for the drivers to pick. It’s bound to create mayhem because either both would want to secure the latest spec to reap its potential benefits or none would be keen to sample it since that might be a beta version.
“To avoid that kind of uncomfortable situation, I am in charge of defining the testing programme and telling the driver: ‘This week, you are doing stints aimed at downforce measurements. I know it’s not very fun but next week it will be your team-mate’s turn.”
