42 F1 RACING AUGUST 2019PRO
RACING04 Engineering:Trickle-downtechnology
this test there’s a temporary chicane demarcated by cones
in the middle of the back ‘straight’, the better to prevent
us from joining the sheep grazing in the pasture beyond
the Ostschleife, a quick right-hander that bleeds into the
tighter Fahrerlagerkurve at the end of the lap. The shorter
pit straight is a surer betfor our unofficial speed record,
but despite a kerb-hopping, flat-out exit from the preceding
corner, the speedometer peaks a couple of millimetres away
from the 200 mark as Nico hits the anchors for thechicane.
“Bah! Well, it’s a work in progress,” he says. “What’s our
state of charge?”
For now, a tablet computer isdoing the job that one
day might be fulfilled by the car’s onboard systems: on
the screen asim ple graphic representation of the Infiniti’s
four wheels and powertrain illustrates harvesting and
deployment, a constantly shifting map of lines, arrows and
colours. State of charge is 28%, down a fraction from the
start of our ‘push’ lap. As Nico dials downthe pa ce a little- and tweaks one of thedials on the central console – the
figure creeps up past 30% again, alliedto the peculiar feeling
that some invisible force is occasionallytugging gently on
the handbrake. Is this how powertrain management changes
from lap to lap in a current F1 car?
“It is true, it iscomparable [to an F1 powertrain],”
reflects Nico after we return to the pits and leave thecar
to cool down. “You can tell it’s the same family of hybrid
technology. You recognise the soundbites you hear in an
F1 car, and especially I feel it when I switch through the
different energy modes – maximum deployment, maximum
charge, sustainableoutput. You feel the difference in power
outputs you get, or, when you charge, how much it’s actually
recouping – that handbrake feeling...”
The Project Black S began as a concept car, agreed over
“dinner and a handshake” between Infiniti’s motorsport
chief Tommaso Volpe and Nissan Europe’s head of design,
Mat Weaver, in December 2016. Infiniti, part of the Renault-
Nissan Alliance, had recently transitioned from being a Red
Bull sponsor to becoming a technical partner of the reborn
Renault F1 team, helping to develop the F1 outfit’s hybrid
systems. Weaver’s group had justthree monthsto get the
first Project Black S design study ready to be the company’s
centrepiece at the Geneva Show – but thereallydifficult bit
came later, once the board greenlit awor king prototype.
“At the time, we didn’t really realise how complicated
the journey was going to be to arrive at this point, where
we finally have the running prototype,” says Volpe. “At
Infiniti we started to work on the hybrid technology in F1
only from 2016, sothe decision [to build a working Project
Black S] came in 2017 and it took time to actually deliver it.
The technology is very sophisticated, and very intrusive into
the space of a normal car. This is the first example of this
technology being applied to a homologated existing vehicle-
one that didn’t even have the normal hybrid technology.
“YOU CAN TELL IT’S
THE SAMEFAMILY OF
HYBRID TECHNOLOGY.
AND ESPECIALLY
I FEEL IT WHEN ISWITCH THROUGH THE
DIFFERENT ENERGY
MODES – MAXIMUM
DEPLOYMENT,
MAXIMUM CHARGE,
SUSTAINABLE
OUTPUT.YOU FEEL
THE DIFFERENCE IN
POWER OUTPUTS
YOU GET, OR, WHEN
YOU CHARGE, HOW
MUCH IT’SACTUALLY
RECOUPING –
THAT HANDBRAKE
FEELING...”
NICO HÜLKENBERG