Ferrari Power Unit Hardware & Software

[63l8qrrfy6]

Did FIA not provide a method for measuring oil consumption ?
How on earth are they going to enforce the rule then ?

I think it is a simple check of the amount of oil before the race and the amount after.

That would only give an average reading. The limit imposed is meant to be an instantaneous value if I interpret the TD correctly.

[63l8qrrfy6]

Word is Ferrari will take 5th turbo by Japan.
WDC is slipping away unless the new engine and TC turn out to be legendary beasts.

[MtthsMlw]

Word is Ferrari will take 5th turbo by Japan.
WDC is slipping away unless the new engine and TC turn out to be legendary beasts.

So no new ICE in Malaysia?

[MrPotatoHead]

Word is Ferrari will take 5th turbo by Japan.
WDC is slipping away unless the new engine and TC turn out to be legendary beasts.

Hopefully the next engine will be a nice upgrade and we won't see Mercedes running away with it.
I think everyone would love to see Mercedes and Ferrari fight till the last race of the season.
Either way Ferrari have made a nice step forward this year and should be proud of that!

[63l8qrrfy6]

Don't know about the new ICE but I suppose it would make sense to marry it to the new TC.

I think that racing will be close, the championship not so much..

[toraabe]

Word is Ferrari will take 5th turbo by Japan.
WDC is slipping away unless the new engine and TC turn out to be legendary beasts.

Hopefully the next engine will be a nice upgrade and we won't see Mercedes running away with it.
I think everyone would love to see Mercedes and Ferrari fight till the last race of the season.
Either way Ferrari have made a nice step forward this year and should be proud of that!

Mercedes used engine number 2 for the last race.

[djones]

On Mercedes, I also don't think we have seen the new spec in beast mode. It was used in Monza and turned down the majority of the race.

Although, if it was so fast they could turn it down and be so far ahead... then oh dear.

Plus the new Ferrari spec will have a struggle to beat the previous Ferrari spec, now it has a lower oil burn limit. I guess at best they will neutralize that loss.

[Sevach]

On Mercedes, I also don't think we have seen the new spec in beast mode. It was used in Monza and turned down the majority of the race.

Although, if it was so fast they could turn it down and be so far ahead... then oh dear.

Plus the new Ferrari spec will have a struggle to beat the previous Ferrari spec, now it has a lower oil burn limit. I guess at best they will neutralize that loss.

It was used in Spa and couldn't shake Vettel, in race mode they had similar straight line speed (despite the fact that Mercedes announced that they ran with low drag).

I think Ferrari is in an advantageous situation on this front, oil burning isn't a thing in race mode.

[Phil]

Hello,
I have a quick question.
Haas homologated the new Ferrari engine in Spa. So they had no restrictions for the oil tank.
Is it possible that Ferrari can now use the same spec in Monza because the new engine is already homologated?

From what I understand, only every new spec can be "homologated". What Haas used, was effectively a 4th engine of spec #3. Spec 4 of the Ferrari PU is not homologated yet, because it ain't finished yet. When Ferrari introduce it, that's when it will be homologated and that engine will adhere to the new oil limit.

AFAIK.

[djones]

On Mercedes, I also don't think we have seen the new spec in beast mode. It was used in Monza and turned down the majority of the race.

Although, if it was so fast they could turn it down and be so far ahead... then oh dear.

Plus the new Ferrari spec will have a struggle to beat the previous Ferrari spec, now it has a lower oil burn limit. I guess at best they will neutralize that loss.

It was used in Spa and couldn't shake Vettel, in race mode they had similar straight line speed (despite the fact that Mercedes announced that they ran with low drag).

I think Ferrari is in an advantageous situation on this front, oil burning isn't a thing in race mode.

Ah ok, I didn't know it was used in Spa. But look at it this way, it was powerful enough to keep behind a Ferrari, even when on the harder tyre and able to use a slipstream (and DRS?).

I don't know for sure (of course), but I'd be shocked if the oil burn was only a qualifying thing. I'd think at minimum it was also used when in overtake engine mode.

[Phil]

Just to be fair; Mercedes was able to keep behind the Ferrari at Spa because they specifically optimized the car around a higher top-speed at the expense of laptime, e.g. running less wing. And they had to pull out all stops for the restart with the ERS mode... according to AMuS, the Mercedes ERS is so flexible, that they could use all of the available power on the single straight, rather than be forced to use it in the most optimal way for the entire lap.

[Juzh]

Just to be fair; Mercedes was able to keep behind the Ferrari at Spa because they specifically optimized the car around a higher top-speed at the expense of laptime, e.g. running less wing. And they had to pull out all stops for the restart with the ERS mode... according to AMuS, the Mercedes ERS is so flexible, that they could use all of the available power on the single straight, rather than be forced to use it in the most optimal way for the entire lap.

That's simply not true. Ferrari has a button called "K1" which overrides any ers defaults in favour of maximum power. Mercedes has a similar button which is called "overtake" button, and we've heard many times over the radio instructions from engineers on how and when they should use it.
We've also heard raikkonen on the radio complaining in china this year how the car goes nowhere unless he presses K1 on one of the straights.

I'd say both cars were at their maximum in that drag race and that was the end result.

[Phil]

Hey, I'm just the messenger.

For the record, here is the article:
http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/form ... 89709.html

Vettel fehlte am Ende der Geraden die Ers-Power

Hamilton dagegen positionierte sich exakt dort, wo er musste (*1). Hätte ihn Vettel überholt, hätte er aus dem Windschatten heraus wieder angreifen können. Mit 95 Prozent Gas in Eau Rouge stellte er sicher, dass Vettel zu dicht dran war und früh aus dem Windschatten raus musste (*2). Damit war es ohne DRS-Vorteil ein Sprintduell Maschine gegen Maschine. Und da zahlte sich der geringere Luftwiderstand des Mercedes-Setup gegen den Abtrieb des Ferraris aus (*3), der bessere Power-Modus und die schlaueren Ers-Programme (*4).

(*5) Bei einem Re-Start sind alle Energiespeicher natürlich absolut voll. Keiner muss Sorge haben, zu viel Elektro-Power zu verballern, wenn er die gesamten 1.835 Meter Vollgas Elektrokraft einspeist. Wenn der Antrieb wie bei Vettels Ferrari dann trotzdem ins De-Rating geht, dann laufen im Hintergrund andere Programme, die das so steuern. Die Software ist in der Regel so programmiert, dass sie auch nach dem Re-Start die schnellstmögliche Rundenzeit garantiert. Und das geht nur, wenn die MGU-K an den richtigen Stellen ihre Power abgibt. Also zu Beginn der Geraden.
Ein Mercedes-Techniker verrät: „Wenn du eine 1,2 Kilometer lange Gerade hast, wäre es extrem ineffizient, die ganzen 1,2 Kilometer lang zu boosten. 90 Prozent reichen völlig. Die letzten 10 Prozent geben dir praktisch keine Rundenzeit. Die setzt du lieber am Ausgang von Kurve 10 ein. Bei uns gibt es aber für besondere Fälle einen Modus, der sicherstellt, dass die MGU-K im entscheidenden Moment nicht abschaltet.“

Translated:

- Hamilton positioned himself well and with 95% throttle during Eau Rouge, achieved that Vettel ended up too close and had to get out of the tow earlier. (*1)
- This achieved that both cars without DRS had a drag race (*2)
- Mercedes had less wing as a result of going for top-speed over lap-time setup than the Ferrari (*3)
- Mercedes has a better "power-mode" and more intelligent ERS mappings (*4)

(*5)
- At the race re-start, all energy levels are topped up
- Neither the Ferrari nor the Mercedes have to worry about using all the ERS power on the 1'835m straight.
- The problem was that Vettels Ferrari went into de-rating earlier.
- The de-rating software is usually programmed for an optimal laptime and that only works when the MGU-K unit is used in the right areas.
- A Mercedes engineer explains that if you had a 1.2km straight,it would be highly inefficient to boost the entire 1.2km stretch. 90% would be fully sufficient, the last 10% wouldn't contribute much to lap time.
- Mercedes however has a "special mode" to prevent the MGU-K from switching off early.


So to get back to how I understand it; MGU-K deployment is set-up on a per race-track basis. The mappings are intelligent enough to know where the best places is to supply energy and where to de-rate in a more efficient way. A driver may have a "boost"-button to use ERS power where they want, but how much boost is available is limited to the de-rating mapping of the car. This is where Mercedes has a mode to over-ride that and was able to boost for longer on that particular straight after Eau Rouge whereas the Ferrari de-rated earlier.

For the record, here is an informative video by Mercedes on what de-rating is (also applies to Ferrari PU I would think)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... CZsXQ98FCM

[Juzh]

Hey, I'm just the messenger.

Yes, i know. I was reffering to the article itself and it's implications. I don't believe ferrari is incapable of implementing an ultimate override switch, that would be outright dumb of them (and we know it's not true - K1). It comes down to ERS capabilites of any particular car and the ferrari is inferior in that regard - even compared to the renault.

[PlatinumZealot]

Great post phil!

Mercedes may have made this mode after experience of two drivers battling for the win in Nico and Lewis. Ferrari never had this scenario before in the hybrid era so it just would not occur to them to override the optimal setting for it.