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My biggest mistake as an F1 engineer

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Re: My biggest mistake as an F1 engineer

#33
post #24

> before the race weekend, all our simulations, which had been firmly plotted around a more conventional qualifying strategy, had told us we were likely to finish third. That was 2006. Do anybody have information about to the software racing teams use to simulate race strategies and how many GPs they test? Thanks.

Big Monte Carlo simulations, and I'd expect them to test every GP. Based on where they qualify they have pre-computed decisions about when to pit / change tire types, etc. under various conditions, like a safety car on lap 10, etc. See: http://www.canopysimulations.com/. Not sure how many of the teams use that specific software, but the computing side of F1 is actually a big deal: the rules place not only place limits on the car design, but on the teraflops used to design it.

Re: My biggest mistake as an F1 engineer

#34

The story was interesting but the conclusion was basically "and that was my long winded way of telling you to learn from your mistakes" which was pretty meh IMO but it got me thinking. I wonder how long it will be before AI can take common generic advice such as "learn from your mistakes" and data about someone and generate a coherent article like this one.

"Learn from your mistakes" is an over simplification. Typically that means "if you make a mistake, figure out a way to not make it again". Instead, the lesson here is to find opportunities in the outcomes of your mistake. Additionally, build that philosophy into your organization.

Re: My biggest mistake as an F1 engineer

#35

Over the years I've done R&D as well as manufacturing engineering. The closer you are to the manufacturing end the tighter the processes are nailed down, you should still learn for your mistakes but at all times have a controlled default. I'd say the F1 race is like that as well, if the low fuel case was not tried before, which surprises me, it should be a wake up call for the upstream R&D guys to better cover their…

I don't read it as this wasn't tested before in R&D, but perhaps it was and gave no advantage, so was not considered. The mistake allowed them to look for other positive aspects that weren't considered before:taking the pole in circuits where the first corner is complicated and messy can be a big advantage (less risk of collision and ending the race in the same position is something good). Also making all those companies who pay a lot of money to put stickers on your car a little happier.

Re: My biggest mistake as an F1 engineer

#36
Or you can do what we do at BiglyCorp, have an absolute shitshow release where 250,000 customers crashed. Then act as if nothing happened and go along doing the same things that caused the shitshow. If you don't learn from mistakes, you've optimized for mistakes.

Re: My biggest mistake as an F1 engineer

#37
At first glance, this might seem like "learn from your mistakes". But after thinking about it, this article is much more.

Put simply, nothing will ever go perfectly right, and nothing will ever go perfectly wrong. In any situation, there will be things that you want to see happen again, and things you'd like to get rid of.

In Formula 1, that probably happens often. This is an engineer's take on what that's like in one of the most demanding sports (business) on the planet.

Re: My biggest mistake as an F1 engineer

#38
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Particularities elided, I was working on a POC of pretty critical (possible damage) closed loop (tightly controlled by operator at the time) system - basically read inputs, react according to algorithm, rinse and repeat. Inputs, however, came from multiple unsynchronised sources and we could arrive at situations where output depended on multiple inputs. I guess we took pretty natural decision to use latest available…

So basically treat even invariants as possibly varying.

Invariants are still invariants. You just want some guarantee that they actually hold.

Every time you use assert() somewhere you're doing just that.

Re: My biggest mistake as an F1 engineer

#39

Or you can do what we do at BiglyCorp, have an absolute shitshow release where 250,000 customers crashed. Then act as if nothing happened and go along doing the same things that caused the shitshow. If you don't learn from mistakes, you've optimized for mistakes.

God, that's a really good turn of phrase.
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