Originally Posted by Akrapovic
But that doesn't make much sense - they got two penalties. One was for stint length. If the stint length is too long, then it's too long. It doesn't become too long when you use too much fuel. They got separate penalties for separate infractions.
There is too many "I think" and "I imagine" when it comes to this rule. I posted the exact wording of it and what it means and was told I was wrong because others interpreted it differently. But that isn't how rules work - you have to look at exactly what the rule says. The rule says they shouldn't go over 10 laps, and when they did (outside of a SC situation) they were punished. That is exactly what the rules say would happen, and exactly what happened.
I don't think anyone is impressed with the current fuel regulation setup. We all understand why it's there, but we now have 3 rules governing the same thing (fuel tank size, fuel allocation per stint, and stint length), which all overlap and make it extremely complicated. And there's fuel flow as well, which breaks things further. I think we'd all agree that the rules setup needs to be simplified, and things like maximum stint lengths need to go.
I don't understand why people expected more from the privateers. They showed their pace at Spa, they showed their pace at the test. If we're thinking that the private cars could run 3:18s all day just because they managed a qualifying lap at the test, then that's just being silly. Toyota were 3-4 seconds off of the qualifying laps, and that's about normal for Le Mans. Of course the privateers would have the same drop-off - if not more than a factory team.
Another thing not taken into account is the Toyotas incredible ability to deal with the traffic. The way it can slice through cars on short straights is mind-blowing, even 4 years after the introduction of the hybrids. It's maybe my favourite thing about the LMP1s - that savage torque from the hybrid that lets it deal with packs of cars in an instant and short space. We saw a toned down but similar balancing problem in IMSA when they balanced the DPs and LMP2s. The lap times were identical, but the DPs dominated because they had so much torque that they could deal with traffic easier. So balancing cars on a lap time doesn't work out when you introduce traffic. And of course we seen the Toyotas leaving the pit stops on electrical power, saving 2 seconds each stop - they let the cat out of the bag on that one with the wheels spinning in the air - the hybrid is engaged before the cars on the ground - something the private teams aren't allowed to do.
I'm not arguing that the teams should be balanced. That's a different discussion altogether. There are perfectly good reasons why Toyota are winning, and without the EoT the gap would be larger. However, if we're going to sit and say "right the cars are being balanced", then it has to be done properly - because Le Mans was absolutely miles off. Everyone seen it coming, it was very predictable and it happened anyway. The gap at Spa was big, the private cars were then pegged back further, which negated any gain from the reduction in hybrid power per km, and the gap was the same as Spa. Add in the hard limit on stints and you get exactly what we saw.
Not taking anything away from Toyota - they still had to win, and they didn't cruise. Not saying private teams should be able to beat (or even challenge) a factory car. But I am saying that if they are going to balance it and sell the class to privateers based on the promise of balance, then it needs to be done properly.
The positive side is, that not one single LMP1 team was sandbagging. Everybody has been honest from the prologue onward, and we know 100% what the car's performances are now. So moving forward we should be able to see any improvement that the LMP1 teams make, and we have a unique situation of having two Le Mans in one season - so the next one there really is no excuse of missing that half a second target.
And we'll now get to see the Manors at Silverstone. They have 2 months to work on the car, with a downforce kit they already have. So I'm hoping it can at least start to challenge the ByKolles. I'm sure they've learnt a lot (especially about things that didn't work!), so I have high hopes for Silverstone now. REALLY looking forward to the LMP1 battle at Silverstone, even if Toyota do drive off.
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