I do, in fact that has up to now, been Honda's greatest weakness as a power unit. Well it was weak everywhere until the last quarter of last year. They seem to have unlocked some one lap pace, however I still think they'll need some more to get the long run pace of the others. The bottlenecks are a mixture of reliability and efficiency that will come from exploiting the ERS with the extra power. Improving the combustion process yields not just improvements in power and efficiency, but also allows more ERS recovery and deployment as well.FPV GTHO wrote: ↑11 Feb 2019, 02:14I don't think it's long run pace holding them back. They need qualifying pace with the higher powered engine modes.godlameroso wrote: ↑10 Feb 2019, 21:43By the second week of testing we'll know if whether Red Bull has a fighting chance in hell or not. If they're within .3 or even .5 on the long runs, they'll be in reasonable shape to catch up. If it's more than that, they'll have their work cut out for them.
Last year they were within .5 on the long runs and won races, I expect similar performance with a similar gap.
However since the regulations force you to transfer that energy via indirect means, they by extension require unconventional thinking.
Let me put it this way, suppose the engine naked by itself with the fuel restrictions could produce maximum around 700hp (+-40hp by building an engineering masterpiece or mediocre dud) where does the other 300hp come from? Answer, the ERS. 160hp comes from the MGU-K, we all know that. However that leaves the math short, MGU-K + ICE = 860hp only. Where's the other give or take 100hp? The MGU-H of course(however the MGU-H is only good for about 80hp or so), but you say, the MGU-H doesn't propel the car that's ludicrous. I say it does, just not directly, remember the engine is being robbed of power to produce boost pressure from the turbo. If the MGU-H takes up the power needed to drive the turbo, that power is freed from having to spin the turbo and can instead spin the crankshaft. (the turbo is in essence driving the pistons by controlling the airflow being combusted, and thus has a fluid coupling with the drivetrain)
If Honda could develop their extra harvest(due to better efficiency from the ICE) they could maximize this extra power for longer periods, right now they can only do it for a qualifying lap because there is no restriction on fuel level, or requirement to have the battery last for multiple laps.
Honda's aim for the season is to develop the power unit so that fuel efficiency and reliablity improve so they can run the max power mode for longer, while getting closer to that max theoretical 740hp from the ICE. With improved ICE efficiency they can afford to burn more fuel to get more harvesting from the MGU-H. This opens the doors to new strategies with how to harvest with the MGU-H, how long wastegates can be opened, or how much in order to harvest enough energy for continuous running.
