atanatizante wrote:I dunno if it`s the best thread to talk about this matter but it`s the following reasoning right to take into account? :
2013 : with a 641kg min. allowed car, then for 10kg of fuel (not 10 litres, coz density is lower than 1) worth it on average 0,35 sec/lap
2014 : with a 691kg min. allowed car, hence a 7,8% increase, therefore for a 10kg of fuel the time loss will be on average 0,377 sec/lap
So the influence of fuel on board is also increased and we could see this year some fuel management scenarios like 90kg of fuel from start to finish and this could worth in a 50 lap race a woooping 18,85 sec. gain at the end of the race …
And maybe there are some teams like RBR which will follow the same tactics route like they did in 2013 (with a underfueled car) and in addition with a little help from a less thirsty Renault turbo engine could do the job done.
Now if you do the math 90kg from 100kg is 10% decrease, which could be easily done by a 3% engine consumption and the last 7% is down to tactics u.e. first stint to the max and the rest just running in leaning mode …
Btw. it is interesting to know if someone has done the math regarding the race fuel tactics, so you could clearly see which is the fastest way to finish a race this year:
a) Running a max. power race, though within the 100kg limit
b) Running with let`s say 90kg of fuel on board
c) Running with the lowest consumption engine mapping mode
The question really is how much would you have to slow down to make it to the end? If your still running competitive lap times then you would be better off keeping the extra 10 kilos to give yourself more strategic flexibility. Especially now with the prospect of unreliability, and being fuel limited. A team could potentially make up a couple places just by not having to turn the engine down. Even more if they have fuel to burn and can go flat out with full power.