dren wrote:
Seems like he is assuming they are the only team running in a fuel save mode during any part of the race. If the Honda PU is that thirsty, it would be that much down on power since efficiency is the only way to more power in this formula. He seems to state it isn't that down on power if run in normal mode. Kind of contradicting.
I concur.
Two years ago we saw consumpton figures, and Williams was consuming remakably less than Mercedes. Williams was a lower drag car than Mercedes, the engine presumably should have been the same...
In this formula, it's about percentage of full throttle (=100 kg/h) and part load efficiency. The former is given by chassis and drag, as a low drag car transits a straight quicker (in less time) and can apply full throttle later out of the corner. So it will consume less.
Not sure about what percentage is part load operation, but it's surely not that high. The Honda Paper about the RA168E mentions 63.6% full throttle, 19.8% closed throttle and only 16.6% part loads in Imola.
If we make this 60% / 20% / 20%, then for 80% of the time with either full or zero throttle, we have 75kg / h consumption. In a 1.5h race, this is already 90 kg. Changing the ratio of full to part load / zero load can only be done by driver will or aero configuration. The engine itself will not change much.
We can safely assume that either McLaren has rather high drag or that the others had to save fuel to a similar extent (which is what I believe).