PICTURES:GLENNDUNBAR;STEVENTEEFINISHING STRAIGHTTECH TALK
100 GP RACING APRIL 2020
F1’S ENGINES ARE
CLOSER THAN EVER
While we’ve yet to see all the cars run in race
conditions, providing us with the definitive guide
to performance, weemerged from testing with
a clear message: the gaps betweenthe different
power units in terms of performance have come
down across thefield by atleas t 50%. And that’s
great news for the racing when it finally begins.
In terms of the dynamics, for sure you see
Ferrari had to take a step back from the ‘magic
engine’ it had from Spa onwards last season.
Obviously therewere a number of FIA measures
imposed in the later races, including an
additional fuel-flow sensor on each car, and then
on the final day of this year’s testing there was
the peculiar announcement of an “agreement”
between the FIA and Ferrari.
Whatever the details of this – and the FIA
undertook that they remained confidential – it’sclear that whatever gains Ferrari has since made
with theengine,it has recovered only a fraction
of the performance step it lost late last year.
I believe Renault has made a big step forward
because it seemed much-improved during
pre-season. While some of that can be put
down to gains on the chassis, I would be
surprised if it had made huge aerodynamic
progress, even though it featured a different
front-end treatment.
The Red Bull was incredibly competitive
and some of that must come from the
engine. Honda’s people like to make linear
improvements, to go step by step, and that was
reflected in the pre-season running. This engine
programme is coming from a long way back but
it’s definitely there now.
For me, the top speeds registered by Mercedes
were interesting: the peak was 330kmh, but
in the last couple of days we saw thatdrop to
around 310, 308kmh.
That’s a clear indication that Valtteri Bottasand Lewis Hamiltonwere running thepower
unit in a lower mode, most likelyto conserve
it after Mercedes and Williams had some
issues with the oil system over the course of
the twotests.
Granted Mercedes was working on race
simulations atthis point, but to not use full
power was interesting. This is generally ateam
that likes to qualify P1 and P2 and then manage
the race from the front, so if deploying thefull
power is an issue, that makes it more attackable.
One caveat here is that the unexpected break
in racing could give Mercedes an opportunity to
correct any reliability issues. Dynos are incredibly
sophisticated, and you canpush these power
units to the same operating temperatures and
even greater levels of vibration than they would
experience in the car during race conditions.
In terms of social distancing, you can run a
dyno with only two people and then check
the data from home (that is, providing your
systems are secure).Itonlytakestwopersonnel
torunadyno,soMercedes
mighthavemoretimeto
cureitsoilsystemissuesPICTURES:GLENNDUNBAR;STEVENTEEFINISHING STRAIGHTTECH TALK
100 GP RACING APRIL 2020
F1’S ENGINES ARE
CLOSER THAN EVER
While we’ve yet to see all the cars run in race
conditions, providing us with the definitive guide
to performance, weemerged from testing with
a clear message: the gaps betweenthe different
power units in terms of performance have come
down across thefield by atleas t 50%. And that’s
great news for the racing when it finally begins.
In terms of the dynamics, for sure you see
Ferrari had to take a step back from the ‘magic
engine’ it had from Spa onwards last season.
Obviously therewere a number of FIA measures
imposed in the later races, including an
additional fuel-flow sensor on each car, and then
on the final day of this year’s testing there was
the peculiar announcement of an “agreement”
between the FIA and Ferrari.
Whatever the details of this – and the FIA
undertook that they remained confidential – it’sclear that whatever gains Ferrari has since made
with theengine,it has recovered only a fraction
of the performance step it lost late last year.
I believe Renault has made a big step forward
because it seemed much-improved during
pre-season. While some of that can be put
down to gains on the chassis, I would be
surprised if it had made huge aerodynamic
progress, even though it featured a different
front-end treatment.
The Red Bull was incredibly competitive
and some of that must come from the
engine. Honda’s people like to make linear
improvements, to go step by step, and that was
reflected in the pre-season running. This engine
programme is coming from a long way back but
it’s definitely there now.
For me, the top speeds registered by Mercedes
were interesting: the peak was 330kmh, but
in the last couple of days we saw thatdrop to
around 310, 308kmh.
That’s a clear indication that Valtteri Bottasand Lewis Hamiltonwere running thepower
unit in a lower mode, most likelyto conserve
it after Mercedes and Williams had some
issues with the oil system over the course of
the twotests.
Granted Mercedes was working on race
simulations atthis point, but to not use full
power was interesting. This is generally ateam
that likes to qualify P1 and P2 and then manage
the race from the front, so if deploying thefull
power is an issue, that makes it more attackable.
One caveat here is that the unexpected break
in racing could give Mercedes an opportunity to
correct any reliability issues. Dynos are incredibly
sophisticated, and you canpush these power
units to the same operating temperatures and
even greater levels of vibration than they would
experience in the car during race conditions.
In terms of social distancing, you can run a
dyno with only two people and then check
the data from home (that is, providing your
systems are secure).Itonlytakestwopersonnel
torunadyno,soMercedes
mighthavemoretimeto
cureitsoilsystemissues