The tightening of real-world Formula 1 testing allowances has amplified the importance of simulator work. Teams now only have three days of pre-season testing available, while the number of CFD items and wind tunnel sessions they can do is allocated on a sliding scale that gives the lower-placed teams more resource to improve. Driver-in-the-loop simulators have been used by F1 teams for decades now, but their development is ongoing. As real-world testing has reduced, so the simulator has assumed a greater role in determining car set-up. It is an indispensable tool for getting the car ready for an event and trying out potential upgrades.
Central to simulator testing is the simulator driver, who is typically a professional racer in their own right. Despite not being a regular face at Grand Prix events, the effectiveness of their job can translate directly to what goes on at the track and can be a contributing factor to success or failure. So, what does the life of an F1 simulator driver entail? We asked the Aston Martin F1 team’s Nick Yelloly, who has been virtually testing F1 cars for a decade, to find out.
How much time does the job demand?
Yelloly has been an F1 simulator driver for three iterations of the same team lineage: Force India, Racing Point and Aston Martin. Seven or eight years ago, he would carry out more than 70 days a year, although the number has reduced slightly since.
‘When I was racing in Carrera Cup or Supercup in Germany, I had much more spare time for it than I do nowadays,’ says Yelloly, ‘Nowadays I’ll do 40 to 50 days a year.’
That is still a lot when you consider that Yelloly is also a BMW factory driver, this year competing in the nine-round IMSA SportsCar Championship and various high-profile GT races. That leads to around 20 days per year at the BMW M Motorsport simulator in Munich, in addition to track testing responsibilities. When everything is put together, it is rare for him to have more than two or three days at home during the European racing season.
Yelloly has worked as a simulator driver for Force India, Racing Point and Aston Martin (Aston Martin F1)Yelloly’s racing programme with BMW has priority over his F1 simulator role, but he still needs to be flexible in case Aston Martin gives him a late call-up. The F1 team has several simulator drivers to choose from in addition to their main drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, such as reserve drivers Felipe Drugovich and Stoffel Vandoorne,…
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