THE WOOD THAT CAUGHT OUT HAMILTON! The Story of Formula One's 'Plank' Device 

Another Fun Fact: The old metal skid blocks on F1 cars that produced those spectacular sparks whenever the cars bottomed out on bumps in the road (especially prevalent on street circuits) were actually made of Titanium.

I love that McLaren's Active Suspension System has the acronym 'ASS'.....🤣🤣

Seeing the plank is kind of nostalgic. I started watching F1 in 2010 (I was 15) and didn't know it was there until Valencia that year with Webber's flight. I remember being shocked that in this almighty, 'tech rules all' motorsport, one of the components was a simple plank of wood.

That title💀💀💀

One correction, the active suspension did way more than just keep de the right height the same during the race. It also keeps the car level when braking and accelerating (no diving of the nose under braking). So the car aerodynamic can always work as effective as possible. RBR have designed their front suspension to eliminate the diving as much as possible, so the ground effect will be the same in all situations.

IMSA stripped a win at Watkins Glen this year for plank wear; Jaminet and Tandy in the #6 963. Was a wild year as a fan of them lol

A like and a comment purely for the Romulan gag. It's always a game of chess with them.

I never understood the argument that active aero is a step too far but active suspension is too advanced. That 18 inch wheels are needed for road relevence but forcing H pattern transmissions is ridiculous.

What you are missing here is that only 4 cars were tested, so how do we know if it was a ride height problem, wether the team risked it with 1 car each or the track which was very bumpy this year simply wasnt got enough for a tier 1 track. Or we have a 4th option which is leclerc and hamilton different style of driving to their team mates and using different lines around the track caused more damage than what was suffered by sainz and russell.

Hi Aidan, can I ask your view on Hamilton and Leclercs cars getting “caught” because they happened to be two of the four cars picked for scrutineering. And the 50% failure rate didn’t lead to any inquisitiveness on the FIAs part to perhaps check more cars for legality, not least their teammates. Leaving fans in the unhappy position of wondering whether other cars were also illegal, but just weren’t caught because they weren’t checked. For me, it’s a ludicrous position for F1 to be in.

you can sometimes see plank skidmarks where the cars bottom out in Eau Rouge

Cheers from the Pacific West Coast of Canada.

3 DSQ's since 1994 with 2 of them being on the same weekend? Yeah, no way Charles and Lewis were the only ones running an illegal car last weekend

Fun Fact: Before the electronic aids were banned following 1993, Williams had actually decided to abandon their own computer program for their active suspension (Williams Active Ride since Lotus had the F1 Copyright on the term Active Suspension). To that end, they had actually done a deal that the rule changes ultimately forced them to abandon with Team Lotus who was reputed to have a much more advanced system. That Lotus system was what the FW16 was originally designed to use.

Excuse me if someone else has mentioned it, but the entire top six at the 2000 Brazilian Grand Prix was disqualified due to plank wear. This was appealed and due to EVERYONE having higher than allowed wear due to the circuit (the bumps along the entire start/finish straight were practically yellow by the end of the race from the planks rubbing). DC was disqualified for also having his front wing endplates too low at 43mm vs 50mm. McLaren claimed this was also due to the bumpy nature of the track surface, but this DQ held. Interestingly enough this was after a fresh repave of the track, which only made the bumps worse. COTA actually spent a lot of money during construction to prevent this situation, digging down at least 10m to have a stable foundation, but it appears it didn't work.

The star trek joke was class

Very informative, thank you

Arugh.....thou time to walk thy plank Mr. Millard....may God have mercy on your soul....

Unless they reuse the planks, I assumed they all turned them in post race for checks before hearing the 4 total randomly chosen

Need to outlaw any type of skid block that is capable of touching the track surface prior to the plank making contact. If the teams are left with the plank being the first and primary part of the car that will scrape along the track, they will raise the care height to keep the plank within the proper thickness.

Sometimes I wonder if FIA made a F-X class, the rules only really strict applying to driver safety, but almost everything else is open. Active aero, active suspension, unlimited powertrain and drive-line. Just a maximum length/width, fuel tank size, must use a commonly available fuel type (no rocket fuel for example), minimum 3 wheels, and can't exceed a certain decibel limit.

Thanks, very well done explanation.

An good job was done!

The early 90s were the sparky years. You couldn't go a lap without seeing EVERYONE scrape the ground...and that was at top speed ..

Nice hat.

Now i know. Thanks.

Anyone notice how red bulls top winglet on the front wing tends to move when accelerating or braking? Found it weird when I was watching the highlights.

Say Hamilton or verstappen in a video Title and you will get views lol But great video I definitely learned some things as usual great upload

Interesting

Negative pressure? Low pressure

I don’t understand the random checks of these planks. If the random inspection can cause such a serious result as a DQ then it should be a mandatory all cars checked. Is the 1 litre fuel requirement random as well. I just naively assumed all the cars are checked equally at the end of each race.

I still have to wonder how many other cars would have been found to be out of spec at COTA if all cars were checked after the race. The FIA should have at least checked the other Merc and Ferrari as well, since it isn't practical to check every car on the grid. I'd bet money that Russel and Sainz's cars would have had the same level of damage. But like you said, the FIA likes to Knee-Jerk react to things, which honestly absolutely ruined the COTA race for me, after the DQ's were announced. I think this was an overreaction to track conditions and track limits. I'm not even much of a Hamilton or Leclerc fan, I enjoy the dominance of Red Bull. But I think this was a blight on the sport, and a ridiculous way to undermine two drivers and teams that have been putting in hard work to improve their cars.

May I correct you the plank is not made of wood it's made from a none flammable form of fiberglass

That title is PAUSE!!!!

I'm utterly disappointed this videos title isn't an innuendo... Private giggles were had! I like the plank. It's black and white, no ifs or buts. Too far worn - DSQ.

it's nice that the differently abled are being productive and making things like this video.

I bet they were pissed at Mercedes... I mean, Ferrari, you are not even surprised anymore, or are you?

Hamilton is a Preferred Species, and therefor cannot be touched!

And others, don't forget their was 2 for the same thing, don't wanna get penalized, don't break the rules. Simple. 😂

lewis plankton

I remember exactly where I was on that Sunday in 94.

Get to the point

Checking 4 cars and giving out DQ’s is wrong af. check 5-20 as well or this is such an off balance punishment. Probably would DQ Carlos, George and others as well

Who else fast forwarded through 9+ Nasal minutes of drivel to get to the point?

Schumacher's throttle dragging likely had more to do with running a more rearward brake balance for more rotation. What he was doing was basically exactly what the 2008 engine braking regulations banned. Add power when the rear brakes start locking to overpower them and you don't risk losing the rear regardless of how far back you push the bbal. If it was for any other reason he likely would've stopped doing so eventually, as it would just reduce brake effectiveness otherwise, but didn't until his 2nd stint in F1 after he was told not to because it would cut out the engine if he did, apparently.

After the 2000 Brazilian GP, all those who finished in the top six except for Fisichella were found to have excessively worn out planks but the respective teams managed to successfully appeal on the grounds of the extremely bumpy Interlagos circuit, although 2nd placed Coulthard was eventually disqualified for having front wing endplates that were too low. Now, imagine if those five drivers had been disqualified for worn out planks, the results would've looked like this: P1 - G Fisichella - Benetton P2 - J Button - Williams P3 - J Verstappen - Arrows P4 - P de la Rosa - Arrows P5 - R Zonta - BAR P6 - G Mazzacane - Minardi

One more Disqualification to add to your list for plank wear. Olivier Panis 1994 Portugese GP

Morning all

I think the main reason there have not been more instances of this is the randomness of the checks. I was reading somewhere that it is not checked at every race and the amount of cars checked varies significantly with some races being only one car checked. People are shouting about if 50% of the cars checked last weekend had the problem, then the whole grid should be checked, because the odds are more cars had the same issue. It's laughable for two reasons, one because obviously two out of four cars being illegal does not mean 50% of all cars are illegal. Yes it could be down to set up, but it could also be down to damage. This makes for huge variables as set up for team mates could be totally different and just because two cars got that damage does not mean all the others would get the same damage. The other thing that makes it laughable is the time it would take to do and then how long it would take to change the result of the race after, and then people would be complaining about it taking too long or that too many people are DQ'd ... its a lose/lose situation. It's something the FIA have been doing for nearly 30 years but the only reason people are complaining is when it effects their favourite drivers or teams. If it was the teams or drivers that they dislike the most, they would just call them cheats etc. But as its their faves, it's unfair.

Easy solution: 1.let it supply to every team 2. Make it, that the consumable layer has colour X and the layer beyond that colour y (highly visible). 3. Control every plank, where layer with colour y is somewhat visible. You're welcome F1

I remember when the Jabroc was first used in F1. The teams complained about how expensive it was to purchase. The FIA said they could use any material for the plank as long as it met the specifications of density and something else, I can't remember right now. I never did know what they switched to, at least now I do. Thanks Aiden

I wish they would put a sensor in the block that indicates the wear. Nothing spoils a race more than changing the result after the podium. It’s like VAR, it stops you celebrating until way after the event.

The one thing that surprised me is that post race scrutineering doesn't check everything on every car. I knew that all competitors were weighed - I remember Damon Hill getting a dq for being underweight in 1998, but I wasn't aware it was just four cars that go through the entire process Was if always like this even in the days when there were only six point scorers

You could hear Lewis’ car bottoming out excessively compared to the others on the run into T1. I thought that was odd. Now I know why.

Aidan, You likely missed the bar-room-brawl that happened during the construction of COTA. The two partners who were building the track filed lawsuits against each other. There was considerable trepidation that the circuit would even be completed. Maybe a suspense filled Story Time? It wasn't just "If you build it they will come",

What I thought was weird was the fact Leclerc, even though he was running too low on ride height, he had no pace throughout the race (see it rhymes) Why was that? Wrong setup? Ferrari strategy?

Grinded away? You mean ground away.

Not entirely accurate re active/reactive ride. Most of the downforce gained from having a platform that didn’t dive, pitch or roll, allowing you to deliberately design peaky aero that only works when it’s basically immovable vs the track. You get more downforce, but it’s a lot less general in its usefulness. Newey has said a few times that the front wing on the FW16 stalled if the car pitched forward too much, and there was also some similar, but less pronounced issues with the floor, diffuser and sidepods that were all interlinked. So the car would get unpredictable and alternating understeer and oversteer…

One of the reason that so few drivers have been penalised for overly worn planks is that this is not one of the areas of the car that is regularly scrutinised. In the USGP, only 4 cars were inspected (two of which failed). Surprisingly, Sainz and Russell weren’t checked, despite the fact that their teammates were disqualified. Ironically, the depth of the plank used to be the easiest thing to check, as there (used to be) holes drilled all along its length to check the width of the plank. Now F1 stewards have said they “can’t check every car, because they don’t have time…”

Actually the plank is not made of wood…it's made from a light weight fiberglass composite material…just sayin'

Who would win? The most successful driver in Formula 1 with 103 wins, 104 poles, over 4000 career points and 7 world championships. Or One planky boi?

Surprised the FIA only checked 4 cars after the race in Austin. (Typical for these days, but I'm sure they used to routinely check more.) So we don't know how many of the other 16 cars would have failed the check too. Given that plank wear was predicted to be particularly problematic at this event (bumpy track, only 1 practice session) and then 50% of those checked failed, one might have expected the FIA to check more cars. Do their job, even if it delayed releasing them from parc ferme. (But it's the FIA so.... 🙈)

I would like to see the damage on the Merc & Ferrari. When Schumacher was DQ’d it was made pretty clear where the damage from the spin on a kerb was; & where the plank had been shaved for an advantage. Was it damage or was it deliberate? Until we see it, should we ever see it, you cannot say.

Did you do an ep on Belgium 94, an the plank drama? Was reading something Willem Toet wrote about 94 and it had a lot of juicy info on it. I'd link, but YT nukes comments with any links in them now as I found out the other day

Video note: at time of my viewing, looks like some old links to rally photos were credited rather than the F1 images put on-screen.

If the teams can find hundreds of engineers each in order to design the car to the absolute minimum of tolerance in the regulations, surely the FIA can find a suitably sized and qualified team of engineers to check at least some reasonable subset of measurements on every car.

Pretty sure IF the FIA had checked all cars their be plenty more DQ's.

This Video was PLANKTASTIC 🤣

Just wanted to comment on modern day use of absolutely stupid words that make you think you are cool and edgy but just show your lack of integrity and common sense. Specifically your title. Use better words and support actual intelligence again. Caught out mean nothing. MIGA Make Intelligence Great Again,

Sorry but F1 cars (any motorsports cars) are not sucked to the ground !!! Over areo or under areo cars are pushed to the ground !!! The air pressure above the car is higher than the air pressure below the car, so the higher pressure pushes the car down !!! That's why it is called "DOWNFORCE" 😉👍

apparently its not wood .. its a composite

2 disqualifications in one weekend that just happened to give the American a point and remove Lewis from checo? Add in the extra foot of track limits and American bribes were an expensive part of red bulls catering budget overspend this year 😂

That MTV livery is sick. Dude.

Mercedes got caught out by running low fuel in FP1 and then likely were caught out when they started the race on heavy fuel loads

The "plank" bit to start things off got me good!

This video is why I don’t care about F1 anymore.

Allow fan cars and we “wooden” be talking about planks.

Wood? /*blink*/ *_Wood?!!_*

Bruins hat

…”AND LECLERC”

I've never seen the Instagram community so upset in the last 2 years, many threatening to stop watching the sport when Hamilton retires, all because they can't read.

It's not made of wood

11:09 Only three DQ's of people who were caught with illegally worn planks. As it became evident during the last race, the scrutineers are not testing all the cars. They randomly pick two, then based on telemetry data pick two more. I really suspect they'd have caught a lot more if all the cars were tested every single race.

I know it’s silly, but it makes me happy seeing the bruins hat 😂😂😂 (dude from Boston) Keep on keepin on brotha, some of the best racing content on here man 🤘🏻

Such a simple part that can become super technical. Look at what redbull did and got away with until a TD for added/edited. Tbh I still don't understand it. Making a supposedly rigid piece flexible but only in certain areas or something?

Trulli being the only driver to have plank wear accepted disqualified then re instated

Absolutely love the Boston Bruins hat Sir. Good form.

Not been wood since mid 90’s

I'm wondering what's up with the image credits underneath the images. I haven't commented on it before but ever since you started putting them in they seemingly have the wrong image link credited sometimes

Funny you should mention Sennas accident. I watched a doco the other day and it covered Gerhard Bergers accident in much the same place and for fairly similar reasons, something like five years earlier. It was a decent crash including a fire. So I guess I'm several decades late in wondering why nothing was done to that section of track post Berger, before Senna had his crash there.

A look at the history of the plank, told by a plank. Hilarious lol

That plank cost massa the championship

well wood you believe it

Nice Bruins hat!

I love these dailies

Bruins hat

Thank you!!

10mm is a lot closer to 3/8" than to 1/2".

Without bias , what do you think happen ? Mercedes and Ferrari disqualification?

Why do you say “*an* good job was done”? “An” is for words that begin with a vowel, e.g. “I am *an* ass for questioning your English.” In all seriousness, I am interested in the various English dialects from Britain and so just want to know whether this is just a peculiarity of your home dialect; you do this so much that I think it must be.