Cyril Abiteboul wants to advance simulation methods

Pour sa troisième apparition dans la position de team manager de Hyundai Motorsport in WRC, Cyril Abiteboul apprehended the rally of Mexico and the challenge that this imposes upstream.

« We did our best to perform our tests in conditions as comparable as possible to what we would encounter., explained the French manager before the start of the race, led by his driver Esapekka Lappi.

#WRC 🇲🇽 @EsapekkaLappi flying on SS3, El Chocolate – taking the rally lead 🙌🏼🙌🏼#HMSGOfficial #RallyMexico pic.twitter.com/8DnyIuKi4r

— Hyundai Motorsport (@HMSGOfficial) March 17, 2023

I think we did a good job trying to understand the impact of altitude on the operation of the engine, the hybrid and the maps. The team also tried as much as possible to work on temperature management. »

If the former main team of Renault F1 Team appeared satisfied, he also had areas of work in mind.

Develop digital simulation

« Once again, we are limited both in our ability to reproduce extreme conditions and in our ability to control these temperatures. », he pointed out, This is part of my astonishment, but we really have little information. »

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With Abiteboul having worked in Formula 1 for a long time, it is not surprising that he compares the way the two disciplines work and seeks improvements in what he has previously experienced.

« There is the 80/20 rule, he develops. In F1 we ​​want to have 100% and therefore it is very expensive. I believe that this can completely apply in the rally, that is to say having 80% of the result for 20% of the investment. When I look at Hyundai, I think we could invest a little more in digital simulation.

We can do better, but we will always be in approximations. One thing that shocks me a little is his understanding of tires. For example, it is very complicated to know when a software starts to work less well than a hard one, over what distance... It's difficult to simulate, but despite everything I think we could do a little more.

The question that arises is knowing that you will not have a correct answer, should you do nothing or if you do something how far should you go? As I want to see what we could improve, we have ongoing thoughts on creating a data science group in the same way as we did at Renault F1 a long time ago.

We were the first and that has become very important today. It's a real strengthAlpine and I want to do something similar. » If digital simulation seems a possible path, Abiteboul does not expect to go too far on the physical simulation side.

Simple solutions to implement

« We are not going to make a simulator like Red Bull, smiles Abiteboul, but I still realize that for everything procedural, you don't need to do something very complicated with a platform motion and hydraulic cylinders that move in all directions.

On the other hand, we could more simulate everything relating to driving procedures, maps or starts. I could see that not all drivers do the same startup procedure and we could systematize it a little more. With a pedal board, a steering wheel and lights, so very rudimentary things, we can start working. »

If there is only one Mexican rally per year, it will be interesting to monitor what the tracks desired by Cyril Abiteboul will bring in the way of improvements at Hyundai.