With his vast motorsport experience and expert simulator knowledge, who better to explain everything a racer can do to be prepared as possible to take on a new track than our Test and Reserve Driver, 23-year-old Fred Vesti.
‘If You Nail the Prep, It’s Not a New Track When You Get There’
Fail to prepare, prepare to fail. A strong mantra, and one that applies to racing drivers learning a new circuit.
“There is a long list of things a driver could and should do to make sure they are ready for a track they have never been to,” says Fred.
“Most drivers will start with the basics. An onboard video on YouTube from an F1 or F2 race. Sometimes it will be another racing series or just a road car someone has uploaded.
“It is a good way to get a flow of the corners, so you start to build that in your mind. Then you look at the kerbs to get an idea of how you will approach that corner in the car you will be driving – it may be that there are some challenges in that car.
“Elevation changes are another big thing we look out for, and if you will need to set up the car to adapt to that.”
Online tutorial over, it’s time to get behind the wheel. Virtually, at first, of course.
Fred says: “The simulator is the most powerful tool to test out the track before you get there.
“If you nail the sim prep, it’s not a new track when you get there. You already know 85% of what is waiting for you, even if it is a completely new track no-one has been to before.
“Take Miami, before F1 first went there in 2022, the drivers would have done about 300 laps of the circuit already.
“You don’t know every little detail, but you can just sit down behind the wheel and do well in the car.”
Sometimes, classic tracks can be banked away for a rainy day, too.
“I am off to Laguna Seca later this year for the first time,” says Fred.
“I have never been there before, but I already know which gear I will need for every corner, because I have driven that layout on my simulator for 10 years.
“I am already at 95%. Within five laps, I will be on the pace.”
Far from Sim-ple
So it is all about hours and hours in the simulator, right? Not so, says Fred. “It is about quality over quantity,” he explains.
“I have learned that if you do 200 laps incorrectly set up in the sim, it will take you the whole race weekend to undo those feelings. Twenty to 50 laps in the perfect simulator conditions are much more beneficial.
“Take a street track. If you are just driving through the walls and not respecting the track limits because it’s a sim, you won’t learn anything.”
There is no reason to give yourself a false sense of security, then. If the practice is intense, the real thing might not feel as gruelling.
“You gain nothing from an easy sim session,” he adds.
“I am working with the team on the theory that the sim needs to be more difficult to drive than the real thing.
“You need to be challenged so that when you’re in the car for real, things feel easier.
“It’s one way to cheat the mind a bit, and to feel more confident when you get there.
“The team puts together a document of the track too, which helps. I will also take part in some virtual races, to give my training that competitive element.”
From the Rigs to Reality
So, you are at the track about to head out for the first time in a race car. How long are you going to need before any remaining simulator questions are answered, and you’re as comfortable at the circuit as you are in your custom-fitted race seat?
“I would say six or seven laps should do,” says Fred.
“That is really all you have. You don’t get half a day to get up to speed in Formula 1.
“At Sebring in IMSA earlier this year, I was pushing really hard at the end of my first run. If I had not stopped, I would probably have crashed, because I just wanted to keep finding the limit.
“You need to get to 99% of the limit, and when you do, that is when you take a break, take stock of what you have learned and taken on board.
“Only then can you go into more detail and fine-tune.”