Honda Power Unit Hardware & Software

[taperoo2k]

I'm not saying they should run engines over the limit during testing already expecting them to blow. What I am saying is that they shouldn't run them on a lower performance mode than they will during the season, otherwise they may have some engine malfunctions during the season, when it's way more costly. And about track time, what they could do is run an entire day in a 'safe' mode, and then at the end of the test day run it at full beans, so if there is a malfunction they'd have the whole night to change the unit.

Because testing is more important to McLaren than races in the season...

Testing is important to all teams, it's about shaking down the car, finding and fixing problems so you have a car that's ready to race and not wasting time fixing problems at the track thus compromising your chances in the race. McLaren are also heavily into data analytics, the more data they collect and data mine, the faster they can develop a car. Honda has probably benefited from that as well (if not then they should).

Developing the car and PU is what matters to Honda and McLaren. As that should lead to better race performances and eventually race wins. It's a long trek to the top of the mountain.

[Mansell89]

Is there anything definitive out there in the press that I have missed that gives us an indication on whether the Power Unit was definitely not at full-tilt?

The talk about the 2016 car only truly being seen in Melbourne was a little double-edged- clearly more aero parts are on the way but where are we with this PU? Is it really still the main reason behind a 2+ second pace gap?

[OviJohn]

Is there anything definitive out there in the press that I have missed that gives us an indication on whether the Power Unit was definitely not at full-tilt?

The talk about the 2016 car only truly being seen in Melbourne was a little double-edged- clearly more aero parts are on the way but where are we with this PU? Is it really still the main reason behind a 2+ second pace gap?

Been having the same doubts today (About Honda running "Detuned") after reading this:

"We have already homologated our engine so that this specification will go Melbourne," Honda F1 boss Yusuke Hasegawa said. "We have already used exactly the same engine here and we have run it at 100%. Actually, the point is that we will improve our engine throughout the season, but as a starting point it is very good."

Some say that it was during the first tests that the engine was "limited" due to new intake parts missing; and that by the 2nd round of tests the engine was Melbourne spec ready with all the goodies applied. Even if the latter was true, I still thought they were running it "detuned". Now Im confused; and can only wait till the 18th when both drivers are on track and poker faces start falling off.

Full article
http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/149 ... nce-season

(Edit: spelling)

[GoranF1]

Is there anything definitive out there in the press that I have missed that gives us an indication on whether the Power Unit was definitely not at full-tilt?

The talk about the 2016 car only truly being seen in Melbourne was a little double-edged- clearly more aero parts are on the way but where are we with this PU? Is it really still the main reason behind a 2+ second pace gap?

Been having the same doubts today (About Honda running "Detuned") after reading this:

"We have already homologated our engine so that this specification will go Melbourne," Honda F1 boss Yusuke Hasegawa said. "We have already used exactly the same engine here and we have run it at 100%. Actually, the point is that we will improve our engine throughout the season, but as a starting point it is very good."

Some say that it was during the first tests that the engine was "limited" due to new intake parts missing; and that by the 2nd round of tests the engine was Melbourne spec ready with all the goodies applied. Even if the latter was true, I still thought they were running it "detuned". Now im confused and cant only wait till the 18th when both drivers are on track and poker faces start falling off.

Full article
http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/149 ... nce-season

it's very difficult to know this, but i was under the impression that only on day1 of second BCN test engine was full power,Alonso's time on soft makes me think that and also on the videos i watched sound was different on day 1 than other days......i could be very wrong though.

[hemichromis]

Could he mean that it has been run at 100% on the dyno?

Sources have said that the lasst week of testing was mapping of the PU to better utilise new fuels and oils that we not available in the first week.

I also heard about trying new PU parts but as I understand it they used one PU for the entire test

Melbourne will see an upgraded version of the same unit.

[namao]

お願いします Wazari-san, give us light. [-o<

[radosav]

Maybe they run it 100% but didn't go for fast laps if other parts of car weren't set up so lap time wasn't so great ,who knows!

[Mansell89]

Maybe they run it 100% but didn't go for fast laps if other parts of car weren't set up so lap time wasn't so great ,who knows!

I really, really hope so and certainly they were not chasing times in week 1, but one has to think that they tried a quick lap at some point in week two?

I'd love them to pleasantly surprise in Melbourne but I suspect they may be a Q2 team only until the engine gets closer to parity.

If that is the case then my word Alonso is going to have to do some difficult interviews about sabbaticals etc.

[namao]

Maybe they run it 100% but didn't go for fast laps if other parts of car weren't set up so lap time wasn't so great ,who knows!

I really, really hope so and certainly they were not chasing times in week 1, but one has to think that they tried a quick lap at some point in week two?

I'd love them to pleasantly surprise in Melbourne but I suspect they may be a Q2 team only until the engine gets closer to parity.

If that is the case then my word Alonso is going to have to do some difficult interviews about sabbaticals etc.

We have to be realistic. ALO said in an interview that they weren't running a detuned engine, it was working at full 100% always. In Australia they may be in Q2, but I suspect that they are going to be just after Manor and Haas and hopefully Renault.

[George-Jung]

Could it be that they are running the PU at a 100% without 'asking' a 100% of the PU?

[namao]

Could it be that they are running the PU at a 100% without 'asking' a 100% of the PU?

I don't think so. Alonso was very clear. He said "It's funny to me when I hear or read that we run with a detuned engine. This can't happen nowadays. I remember doing these things with de V10, increasing the RPM from 17.000 to 17.200, stuff like that."

[davidfroshanzen]

Could it be that they are running the PU at a 100% without 'asking' a 100% of the PU?

I don't think so. Alonso was very clear. He said "It's funny to me when I hear or read that we run with a detuned engine. This can't happen nowadays. I remember doing these things with de V10, increasing the RPM from 17.000 to 17.200, stuff like that."

What your source?

[Jolle]

Could it be that they are running the PU at a 100% without 'asking' a 100% of the PU?

I don't think so. Alonso was very clear. He said "It's funny to me when I hear or read that we run with a detuned engine. This can't happen nowadays. I remember doing these things with de V10, increasing the RPM from 17.000 to 17.200, stuff like that."

I think you should divide the PU in different parts and then the term "Detuned" is maybe not the right one, maybe the word efficiency is better. To run the ICE at 100% is pretty clear, you put in 100kg/h of fuel and burn it. But with especially the MGU-H in combination with the MGU-K and the ES, thats a different story. If, for max power the H is connected to the K and for the remainder of the time, the ES is pumping all the energy into the K and sometimes H to spin it up extra, maybe even with the waste gates open when possible, you would have 100% of the available power for a short time. This would be the same as in the old days, when you turn up the revs for a lap or so.

What Honda had in 2015, was that the ICE probably was functioning as normal, at 100% but the systems around it didn't add up to the efficiency. Mercedes is talking about that they are close to 50% efficiency, but that will drop when they go for optimal power (because of the waste gate).... so...

it's a strange new world

[taperoo2k]

Could it be that they are running the PU at a 100% without 'asking' a 100% of the PU?

Could be that they ran it with conservative engine maps at different points to reduce the strain on the various components that make up the PU. And maybe they pushed things a bit at a time to work out what's the best way forward for the first race.
So I expect we will see an improvement but nothing spectacular. Also guess we might see performance gains near the end of the season as Honda may try out new parts for 2017 at the expense of grid drops etc.

I think detuning might be something entirely different in terms of the current PU's vs the Engines of old.

[Chicane]

Honda wanted as much mileage on the units they were going to run in Melbourne and hence i tend to believe they would not have run the power unit on more performance oriented maps. They definitely must have tried out various maps but in my opinion they must have run the unit on more conservative maps majority of the time. Boullier mentioned earlier as to how just playing with knock setting you can expect dramatic results on these power units. I don't think Honda have pushed the performance envelope on this spec. Even though there may not be any hardware changes on these units unless mandated by reliability requirements Honda will have plenty to come on the software side.