wuzak wrote:There won't be a lot of time spent at below 5000rpm.
agreed
there seems reason to be nowhere near 5000 rpm
there is no prize for fuel economy beyond the concurrent limits of 100 kg allowance and 100 kg/hr rate
at most races the rate will be the dominant factor, not the allowance
the fuel rate is the same regardless of driver demand
eg at 10500 it's the same whether the driver wants full power or not
and the same applies eg at 10000, 9000, 8000 rpm etc
so anytime he only wants partial power he has ample 'free' fuel ('free' because he cannot save it to produce power later)
to access this free fuel he just needs to keep the rpm substantially higher than the 5000rpm mentioned
this free fuel can and surely will be used to generate from the mgu-k (60 kW at about 5250rpm to 120 kW at about 10500 rpm)
so providing ample ERS power for use typically a second or a few seconds later
(yes, you can't save fuel for later use, but you can burn fuel to produce electricity and save that for later use)
the only incentive to use lower rpm is to forgo this 'free' fuel eg to load 98 kg or 96 kg etc
and one or two races would need the 100 kg anyway
boost control via managed mgu-h motor/generator action would also contribute to eliminating throttling at partial power
and manage the power/torque curve, essentially by 'flat-rating' the torque
this is of course not a differentially-boosted engine tending towards infinite torque at zero rpm
the is no mountain of torque that will make the gears unimportant