Formula 1 - 2015 season

[Dave Baumann]

The point being that the cooling aspects of the engine are outside of the rules for the engine token system. We already saw from last year that different teams with the same engine had different cooling solutions that gave them different performance characteristics. The main radiator designs are firmly in the hands of the "chassis" side, and they dictate quite a lot of the aerodynamics; this is also true for the cooling for the ancillary PU elements.

This particular change appears to be a clear trade-off of PU reliability/performance vs aerodynamics & center of gravity. At other tracks that do not have the same engine demands its conceivable that they would revert to the prior ERS cooling solution.

 

[Bludd]

That's splitting words, IMO.

You must be new to F1. This is what teams do. This is what Ferrari did when they found the loophole that allows in-season power unit development this year. This loophole has been closed for 2016 which is why Renault is so angry, btw.

 

[suryad]

Watching the Monaco f1 race finally. Christ it's boring! The cars look like they're barely moving. Hate this track as a spectacle.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Watch the onboards and say that again.

 

[suryad]

Yes good fun for drivers. Not so much for spectators

 

[Pete]

There's an F1 documentary called "1" that has a complete onboard lap of Monaco by Senna that's mesmerizing. I'd love to see more onboards, at least for replays of nice passes.

 

[Gubbi]

You must be new to F1.

I am not, and I am well aware of teams exploring the limits of the rulebook.

It's just, - I loathe the engine freeze. It has gutted F1, - it is now a one team championship.

The argument that teams couldn't afford engine development is bogus. How much advertising revenue is the average non-Mercedes team losing because they can't perform ?

How much mind share is Renault and Honda losing because of lackluster performance ?

At least Le Mans looks to be interesting in both the LMP1 and LMGTE Pro classes this year.

Cheers

 

[DJ12]

But surely if it was only the engine it would be a 4 team championship.

Ferrari are clearly the second team, and they don't have Mercedes engines, obviously.

There is far more to Mercedes dominance than simply the engine.

F1 is dull because the cars are managing everything from the first lap, not because Renault and Honda forgot how to make a good engine.

 

[Billy Idol]

Even good races like Canada are boring this year.

As a long term F1 fan (over 25 years now), I must say that in this season I have real troubles to motivate myself to watch until the end of a GP....I wonder if there is a general decline in F1 fans, or if it is just my personal feeling atm.

 

[Kaotik]

Even good races like Canada are boring this year.

As a long term F1 fan (over 25 years now), I must say that in this season I have real troubles to motivate myself to watch until the end of a GP....I wonder if there is a general decline in F1 fans, or if it is just my personal feeling atm.

It's probably because of how overpowered Mercedes is yet again - even Red Bull wasn't this dominant for 2 years straight IIRC

 

[DJ12]

Then why aren't Williams always second, lotus third and force India fourth team?

They have the same engine

 

[Kaotik]

Then why aren't Williams always second, lotus third and force India fourth team?

They have the same engine

Actually Mercedes has (or at least has the right to have) one development step newer engine than their customers and they have the luxury of designing the engine and car together from scratch.
Anyway, I didn't specify that Mercedes engine alone is so dominant, but the whole package they have at the team. (should have used dominant, not overpowered to avoid confusion I guess)

 

[DJ12]

Designing the car around the engine was only an advantage for last season, for this session all the customer teams, apart from lotus, knew exactly how the engine is configured.

No doubting Mercedes are dominant, but the ground swell that's it's all about the engine (not saying this is your opinion) is so far off the mark.

 

[Rurouni]

I don't know how restricted engine customers can access the engine, but from what I read, McLaren was really restricted by Mercedes on the PU stuff. Of course it is probably because McLaren will use Honda engine for 2015, but I think Merc still hide some stuff about the engine from its customer. My feeling it's probably mostly software related, and probably Merc cherry pick the best engine for them.

 

[DJ12]

I think The guy who left Ferrari and joined Williams with Massa (I forget his name) stated their engines were exactly the same as the Mercedes ones, but they have different engine modes to Mercedes.

Anyway, I found this in my search for the guys name (Smedley)

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/118139

Engines are exactly the same, it's a contractual requirement.

 

[Dave Baumann]

Yes, engine specs for Mercedes teams are the same. The teams pick the cooling options according to how they want to run the engine/aerodynamics.

 

[Rurouni]

Although engine must be the same, doesn't mean Merc can't cherry pick the best performing one, even if the difference is small. Like CPU with the exact spec react a bit differently when overclocked, if Merc isn't cherry picking, then they are stupid. Especially since this is only the 2nd year in 1.6T, thus the engine production probably isn't as mature as the previous era, combined with the fact that they use tokens to basically change the whole engine from the 1st year, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a little difference in performance between the same engine spec, especially when the engine is pushed to the max.

 

[Kaotik]

I'm quite sure I just read somewhere someone from Williams stating that Mercedes has the right to be 1 "revision" ahead of it's customers on the engine

 

[Dave Baumann]

With in-season development occurring this year there will potentially be a break if/when Mercedes decide to use their tokens due to the number of new spec engine fabricated and when each team are choosing to change to their next engine, but that is specific to this seasons rule anomaly and hasn't happened with Mercedes yet. Sky sports pointed out that Sauber are a couple of races away from getting Ferrari's uprated engine they used in Canada.

 

[DJ12]

Through choice I heard them say. Turns out it was a wise move as whatever Ferrari have done has created a reliability issue.