Okayama International Circuit

Quali pace only. The keeper has not been run to a full stint or a pit stop, so tyre wear and race pace are unread. No race validation yet.

Tamas's setup was built for a warmer, lower-grip track. On Okayama's cooler, higher-grip surface it was under-sprung: the car made more download, the platform squatted, and it rode the floor about a quarter of the lap. The lab firmed the platform to match the grip available. One variable at a time, verified by setup diff before each session.

1. Grip has an axis. A setup built for a hotter, lower-grip track is soft and low-load; on a cooler, grippier surface the car makes more download and pushes the platform out of its window. Firming it back is the fix, not a generic gain.
2. Bottoming fell at every step (25 -> 17 -> 14%), but lap time bottomed out at front heave 70 and got worse at 80 and 90. Past the optimum the front stops following the road and loses mechanical grip faster than the platform gains. The fastest car is stiff enough to hold the platform, no stiffer.
3. Lower cold pressure (124 over 128 kPa) suited the cool track: a bigger contact patch for more grip.

1. Rear third spring is still 0 N/mm. The rear platform is held by the corner springs alone, so the third spring is the next untested lever.
2. The remaining 0.15 s to the same-conditions reference (Anh Nguyen, 1:18.067) is the C3 hairpin and C5 complex: getting to throttle earlier on exit. Driver-side, not setup.
3. No stint or tyre-deg data yet. The keeper has not been run to a pit stop, so race pace and tyre life are unread.
4. Late in a long session the tyres ran hotter and hot pressure crept up about 3 kPa, costing grip. A cold-pressure step for hot track state is untested.