Comments on: How new engine rules will affect strategy

By: George

George — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 08:27:39 +0000

Yes the wet races definately allow the engines to run a little less full throttle time. Which in turn reduces the wear.
With the rpm limit set at 18,000rpm this year i really cant see any problem with 8 engines lasting all season, most of the damage is made in the last 1000rpm and now thats gone.
Unfortunately the sounds of the cars this year wont be as great : (

By: Keith Collantine

Keith Collantine — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 00:27:44 +0000

First post, you say? Welcome aboard Paul!

By: Paul Snoop

Paul Snoop — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 23:15:39 +0000

Just to correct myself (off to a flying start with my first f1fanatic post )

This useful guide says “If anyone uses a ninth engine in the season, they will have a 10-place grid drop for every race until the end of the season”.

By: Alejandro

Alejandro — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 21:09:28 +0000

@ Andrew

As I understand it no matter how quick they are going, F1 engines can only take full throttle for so long,ie the strain placed on the engine scales quicker than the cooling afforded by higher speeds after a certain speed; given wet races require less throttle the engine would still wear less, at least that’s how i understand it. Also wouldn’t more humidity also mean less oxygen thus less power/strain going into the cylinders?

By: Alejandro

Alejandro — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:57:44 +0000

@Chaz

For a second you had me thinking cause i remember seeing water nearby, but yes it’s 800m above sea level, so that’s probably a lake or a manmade dam type of thing. The article i read was one of those renault tech notes, i just can’t find it now. As far as i know it’s the highest of the current circuits, and it also made me wonder how NA cars performed in the Mexico circuit at 2200+ meters.

By: Andrew Tsvyk

Andrew Tsvyk — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:48:13 +0000

Keith, I would like to know whether wet races are really easier on engines than dry ones… In the wet, we have lower speeds (which, unlike some of us might think, is not good, as the higher the speed the better the cooling)Also, the humidity level is higher, which also hampers cooling. Nevertheless, air temperatures are lower, which is a good thing and water cools the surface of the car, which, in theory, cools the engine. But somehow I am still not convinced that wet races are easier on engines…

By: Chaz

Chaz — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:03:13 +0000

@ Alejandro – I understand where you are comming from with this logic but Interlagos is by the sea is it not?

By: beneboy

beneboy — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:12:13 +0000

Adrian

I wonder if any teams will have one engine which they decide is their “qually” engine

That was my first thought.

Have one that’s set up just for qualifying and then have the rest for the races.

With the improvements they’ve made to the engines by the time the season starts would the rev limiter not be effectively “turning the engine down” as far as maximum power output is concerned ?

If so then the reliability & multiple race performance of the engines should also have improved since last season as they’d be operating below their maximum performance limits.

I know there’s meant to be a development freeze but we all saw what happened last season and the changes they’ll have to make for KERS should give them plenty of opportunities to get around that rule.

As others have said, if they can now take engines for Friday and then the full supply of each drivers engines too then they could end up taking loads more engines to each race than they already do.
Hardly helps with cost cutting.

By: Alejandro

Alejandro — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:11:27 +0000

Keith, great article as usual! It would be interesting to see the altitude for each track as well. I seem to recall an article explaining why Interlagos was relatively softer on the engine than it’s WOT% indicated due to the higher altitude/thinner air/less pressure. However it said i believe 67-69% WOT, but altitude corrected it would be similar to a 62% full throttle track. Looking at the Interlagos number you posted I wonder if it already has such a correction.

@ DG, regarding gearboxes, i read they will have to run 4 events, but still must be consecutive events

By: Paul Snoop

Paul Snoop — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 15:27:56 +0000

My understanding is that you could only get a 20 place grid drop for using engines 9 and 10 in the same weekend (final Friday practice, qualifying, race).