Juzh wrote:beelsebob wrote:
Actually, at monza, I suspect they'll use it towards the end of straights for top speed, because they will be traction limited under acceleration thanks to the flatter torque curve. I suspect ERS will be used as a "once beyond 6th gear" device there.
Can they actually do that? Even if they can I severely doubt they'll actually do it.
Why would they not be able to do it?
Isn't it better to accelerate sooner so you can carry more speed for more time down the straight, as opposed to accelerate later but maybe gain more speed at the end of straight for a fraction of the time?
Normally, yes... But these cars are already traction limited. You don't want to apply more torque if all it's going to do is spin the wheels.
That said, there's another possibility, which may be the most likely of all – they'll use ERS exactly when the ICE is at its least fuel efficient point, allowing them to dodge right past it, and save fuel.
Gridlock wrote:It's not actually one fixed set of ratios for the entire season, is it? They get to swap one, around halfway through the year? So they'll have optimised two subtly different sets of ratios - and if your car were, I don't know, red? Maybe you'll have an 8th gear in there just for Monza?
Could be the case, but there's still lots of races you'd be left compromised if you optimize for monza only. Once they change ratios, they can't reverse back to the old ones.
It doesn't really need monza only optimisation - Belgium, Japan, CotA, brazil and abu dhabi will all benefit from a long 8th gear. Singapore and Russia would probably have never have touched 8th, even with a short one.
=D>
