Special engine demands at Monaco
Besides the engine, most of the attention for reliability at Monaco is probably put onto the gearbox. Monaco is a circuit where cars are traditionally shifting gears the most. You can immidiately think that the engine is running at a very high average rpm, since it accellerates very quickly.
"Monaco is the last traditional street circuit left on the F1 calendar, and is of course a unique challenge: the circuit is slow enough that the total race distance is adjusted below the usual 300 km limit, while the slow speeds also give the engineers some very atypical problems to think about," he noted. "The longest period the engines spend at full throttle is just eight seconds - one third of the highest value of the year, encountered at Indianapolis - while the percentage of the lap spent at full throttle is only 70% of that encountered on an average circuit."
Renault is therefore expected to run well at Monaco. The team is likely to have a better torque on rpm levels equal to the competitors, which may be a substantial advantage. The utmost rpm count is less important in the street circuit.
"Overall, this of course means that the engine is placed under less load than at any other circuit. The keys are finding an effective high downforce set-up, and good mechanical traction out of the slow corners.The engine is called upon from very low engine speeds, and one of our objectives in tuning the engine is to provide the drivers with as smooth as power curve as possible, and good levels of torque from low engine speeds. In this respect, the RS24 has a much more linear power delivery compared to last year's engine, and this will certainly simplify one area of the drivers' job during the weekend."
"Monaco also features the slowest corner of the year, the hairpin in front of the Grand Hotel.This sees the cars descend to just 45 kph, and indeed Monaco demands the broadest operating range between minimum and maximum engine speed of any circuit of the year.A Formula 1 engine is designed to run at very high speeds, and optimised for these conditions. As a result, operating at very low engine speeds can sometimes pose problems in terms of lubrication and vibration. When specifying the engines for this race, we have to concentrate on the lubrication system and also valve timing in order to deal with these challenges."
"The other factor associated with slow speed running on a low grip surface is of course wheelspin, and Monaco can see the drivers hitting the rev limiter more often than elsewhere. Our systems to prevent over-revving must be particularly effective and we pay special attention to the engine's electronics in order to calibrate this properly. However, like all the other challenges of Monaco, there is nothing new in this and we know the circuit's demands very well.The key will be to do plenty of mileage in order for the drivers to feel perfectly at home, and to have a trouble-free weekend as losing track time at Monaco is even more harmful than elsewhere. In this respect, our early-season reliability will certainly stand us in good stead."
