Wass85 wrote:nzjrs wrote: ↑02 Sep 2020, 18:49
Wass85 wrote: ↑02 Sep 2020, 18:37
I'm not really in to the technical side of F1 so forgive me but when did teams start bringing in different engine modes?
I know they had boost in the 80's but what about all these strats?
Why can't we just make it simpler and have no strats at all, just a throttle pedal and that's it?
The key insight is that these are not really 'engines' anymore. Power Unit really does describe them better.
It is three major systems (ICE, -K, -H) with different operational envelopes that are coupled together through complicated regulations which govern energy flow between the componets. So now it immediately becomes an optimisation problem, and the first lesson of most optomisation problems is that there are different local optima - at which point you have codified engine modes.
Didn't they have all these modes during the V8 era as well though?
Only for MGU-K. There was no turbo and no MGU-H. They were only storing like 300kJ on board, and deploying a max of 400kJ over a lap, which is nothing.
I don’t think storage is limited now, but they can only harvest 2MJ from the K and unlimited amount from the H per lap, and deploy 4MJ max to the K.
Management was much simpler for K only. The MGU-H system is a work of art in comparison.
With everything going on with harvesting and deploying to both units, there is a lot to manage. I didn’t even think there was any H harvesting happening on a Q lap since the wastegaste opens fully and the H is spooling the turbo most of the time, but it was said above that it will still harvest then.
I’m not an expert, though, so feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
If you meant ICE modes only, yes, those also existed in the V8 era, but it would have been simpler fuel/ignition/timing map changes. A turbo obviously adds to that complexity.