Is Ferrari going to do some experiment for Friday? May be the older spec for Kimi and new spec for Vettel and see which one would be more ideal for the GP?
Race Distance: 306.5 Kms. So, oil burning advantage lost would be 900 gms, compared to Mercedes over a race. Mercedes can use 3.6 litres (1.2 litres / 100 Kms) and Ferrari can use 2.7 litres (0.9 litre/ 100kms).
If we assume, they pump the oil on every lap, it would be 0.06 litre/lap for Mercedes and 0.05 litre/lap for Ferrari.
If they don't do that every lap, then ideally, they can push 1.2 litre/0.9 litre in race, at whatever time they want, once every 100 kms. Not such a great handicap for races.
In qualifying, assuming the trick is used in the Q3 for 2 laps (ultimate power), how much of oil can they burn? I am not sure. I haven't read any regulation that talks about qualifying. Every article talks about race situation. Will that be pro-rata basis?
Meaning, if 1.2 litre/100 kms, then a lap of 5.79 Kms would get to use 0.069 litre for Mercedes and 0.052 litre for Ferrari. OR is there any other understanding that I don't know?
I am trying to understand, what is it really worth? They carry 105 kg fuel in their tanks in race and each lap requires 1.9 Kg on equal basis (more at the start and less at the end). Even in qualifying, they have to stick to that 100Kg/hour at 10,500RPM rule. So, it's not like they can use 5 or 6 Kg fuel per lap. Correct?
Let's say they consider the distance covered in whole of qualifying and allow the total oil usage based on number of Kms done throughout quali and team can use the cumulative total available, then based on the laps done in quali, Mercedes/Ferrari should be 12 laps (including out lap, flier and in lap) that totals to 68.4 Kms each. So, Mercedes would get a total of 0.8 litre to be used for 2 fliers and Ferrari gets 0.6 litre for 2 fliers. So, each flier, it would be like 0.4 litre for Merc and 0.3 litre for Ferrari.
How much difference is 0.1 litre going to change the performance between Merc and Ferrari over a lap? I don't think the changes would handicap Ferrari by like, 5 or 10 BHP or something, which would be a real handicap in qualifying.
I am crazy here. Can someone knowledgeable enlighten us here?