Eric Côté's Setup Guide - Estoril
Setups
QUAL:
1 min 18 sec 252
RACE:
1 min 19 sec 938
Qual standard menu
Qual advanced menu
Race standard menu
Race advanced menu
Introduction
Estoril circuit is quite a challenging circuit for different reasons, the race setups are quiet difficult to be "kind"on tires, yet still being fast. Althought the track layout has interesting corners, as you know me, i love those fast corners like corner #1, #2, and the Parabolica (#12), it's just a question on how you get it right (setup &driving) and how brave you can be. Corner #9 is extremely difficult to master ( i recall this as an inverted corkscrew) with bumps to frustrate anyone who commit a slight errors (the worst one is entering too fast). I'll go in more details about this corner, since it's essential not to loose time here. There's other corners are interesting like this left bend (corner # 6), there's different driving lines that you could lead to a better exit, worth to mention a good place to overtake at the entry.
Track Guide
Corner #1, #2 and #12 (Parabolica) uses mainly aerodynamic grip, so Alter the ride height and/or Wing angles. EXAMPLE of this: If you use 11 deg Front, 6 deg Rear WING, change the Rear RIDE HEIGHT ( ADD to eliminate UNDERSTEER / REMOVE to eliminate OVERSTEER ): EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE Last comments on this: TRY a differential of 25 to 28 mm between Front and Rear RIDE HEIGHT

Corners #3, #4 and #11 uses primarly mechanical grip, to prevent UNDERSTEER try keeping the differential of SPRINGS low. Eg: keep the differential at 100 to 200 lbs between Rear & Front, the higher the differential, more understeer will be induced. You can correct OVERSTEER (cornering phase: Entry & Exit) by changing the SLOW DAMPERS value (REBOUND & BUMP) This is extremely important, please review the table under DAMPERS SETTING here take a look at cornering type 1 & 5 Last comments, if your using too much REAR SPRINGS, there's good chance of oversteer at the exit/entry regardless of your dampers setting

Corner #9 (actually the uphill chicanes left to right) i call it an inverted cockscrew, this section is off-camber and has bumps To prevent chassis upset (leading to spin-off) the entry is TYPE 2, again refer to the damper table (link above), middle of chicane is TYPE 3, then MID PHASE TYPE 4, and exit is TYPE 5, sounds complicated ? IT IS! My best advise is going step by step, and try to take this chicane the same way every time to see the effect. Also you'll need to adjust your FAST DAMPERS to counter-effect the off-camber and bumps.My first advise for this one, try around 800-900 lbs of REAR SPRING : to prevent rear wheel spin, and don't go higher than 2000 lbs of FRONT Anti-Roll Bar : to prevent overeaction of front-end, leading to spin-off ( chassis upset ). Last advise, try different lines to be effective and not loosing too much time here. This is one of the trickiest chicane around the world, PRACTICE is a MUST!

Corner #11 is actually a change of direction from right to left, a good way to remove chassis upset is by REDUCING in equal amount all the SLOW DAMPERS setting. Eg: reduce FRONT& REAR REBOUND and BUMP by one notch, and see the improvement it makes on the transition, Also i've found when negociating the transition leading to the exit, there's a need of good amount of FRONT WING to go fast, although if you increase (too much) the differential of WINGS between REAR & FRONT you'll create other problems (oversteer) at the faster corners.

I haven't spoke to you about ARB quiet much, there's different settings that can be used, in all the practice i've done, my advise is "playing" between 100 to 200 lbs in the rear, if you go higher, you'll loose the back in corner #11, also i've found with higher number corner #1 and #2 are getting too "sensitive". What i mean is, while in these corners, a slight change of direction of steering can lead you to chassis overaction. Which lead to MAJOR OVERSTEER. I refer this as beeing too much POSITIVE REACTION of input from the drivers. My worst experience is negociating turn #2, and actually going ON the inner cerbstone leading to a major crash. In the front try around 1500-2000, if you go lower, you'll INDUCE FRONT SLIDING and this will "chunk" your LEFT FRONT TIRE.

Race Setup
If you are "gentle" enough on your tires, try 2 pitstop strategy during a full race. If you find your setup though on tires, go for 3 pitstop, although you might not still be in 1st position after your last pit. The asphalt is abbrasive, and you can "burn" your tires if not carefull. Also there's almost no difference in PRACTICE time compared to RACEDAY( 0.5 sec ).

If your consistent, without mistakes, you'll pace at around 2.0 to 2.5 sec a lap faster than the top teams.And at that pace you'll have over 45 secs at your first pit, so even if the 2nd position car is on a 1 stop strategy, you're in control of the situation. I've notice the winning combination is 3 pitstop strategy, my suggestion is using 23% race distance for 1st pit, then 52 %, and at the last pitstop go for 76%, the sim will give you 19 fuel lap, just remove some amount to finish the race with the minimum. ALSO I'VE NOTICED MOST TOP TEAMS USE 2 PITSTOP

So let's go for a lap and trying to know where to pickup time compared to competition. 1st, personnaly i never really gain time in the slow corners compared to the CC car, i guess it's my driving style, so from my part corner #9 won't help. But i gain alot in the first series of succesive corners #1 and #2, unfortunatly it's not the best place to overtake, apart the very last moment of the entry point of corner #3, but just after at the exit of corner #4 thru corner #5 and going thru the straight leading to corner #6, it's a very good portion to pass the slower cars, what's important here is beeing in the right gear and you'll get momentum to go for it. Be carefull entering corner #6, but it's feasible to overtake, even while you turn. At the exit of this corner, there's a short straight leading to corner #7, be carefull since competion don't give room easily, after the exit of #7 you accelerate up to 3rd/4th gear, the slowest car are easy to overtake, then here goes the uphill chicane.

Here comes one of the most challenging corners in F1 circuits, eg: corners 9, actually it's a chicane going uphill, and it's extremely easy to loose the rear, although in race when you have a fuel load it's more "forgiving", i actually change my cornering entry/exit depending of tire wear. Don't try to enter too fast, you'll loose the rear, instead gradually pick up the speed then "relax" a little bit. In the mid phase there's about anything to give you nightmare, off-camber road, bumps and the exterior is slippery. Until the rear is stabilized then re-accelerate going up to corner #11. Now here's another serious chicane, entering too fast, you'll loose the rear, or you might loose the good exit point, which leads to the Parabolica, i have to confess that i've tried to overtake on the exterior (A la Jacques Villeneuve), it doesn't really work!! Although here's another corner that i like to take to the edge , in qual it's easy to do it "full throttle", but in race take it more easy, and even then it's a good place to overtake again at the exit.

Now to finish this page, i have tried different dampers setting, and my best solution was what you see here. Some cerbstones are low, at other section it's high so you'll have to experiment to know when it's good using the cerbstone. My advise to adjust your setup to your driving style, is changing the ride height ratio (per example: having 25 to 28 mm more in rear) this way you change the response from under to oversteer ( or vice-versa ), also i found this track is very forgiving in WING angles differential between F/R, so it's pretty easy to find your best compromise. Always take a look at the tire wear after a good session, to see if you're close to that CAR BALANCE, which will translate to predictable handling. At last don't be shy trying different gear ratio to extract the maximum speed and grip in different corners.

Again the trick is finding the best compromise, depending where are your strong point. Look at those two advance setup menus, and check these subtil differences that makes a huge one on TIRE WEAR! And with the qualification setups, i'm confident to see you on POLE POSITION, DON'T MISS YOUR START!
 
 

NOTE: these 2 setups are not symmetrical.
Also if you want to view the Standard menus, just "click" on either those 2 graphics (2 or 3 pitstop strategy) 

Just look at the difference of setups,between qual and race (not shown here) is the wing angle as gone up by 1 deg in rear and 2 deg in front for the 3 pitstop strategy & 1 more F/R for 2 pitstop, brake ratio is 62 : 38 for qualification & raceday (3 pitstop)
and 38.500 : 61.500 (2 pitstop) , also gearbox ratio has changed to (29 - 37 - 45 -52 -57 - 62 for qualification) from (29 - 37 - 45 - 52 -57 - 61 for race). 

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