Season debrief: Luca Marmorini

Panasonic Toyota Racing's Luca Marmorini, once in charge of the engine for the 'Red Prancing Horse', now produced an engine that not only demonstrated the best reliability in Formula One, but also a reputation as a top-class performer. Marmorini looks back on the 2005 season.

Interview with Luca Marmorini

How much of a challenge has this year's two-race engine rule been?
"It has been tough, even though the results of all the teams have been very impressive. All the problems we had to solve in between the two races were new and unpredictable and you cannot believe how many times we really had to work. You could call it a controlled emergency situation!"

Looking back at the results of the season, what were your particular highlights?
"Purely from a results point of view, the races in Malaysia and Bahrain were incredible. To see the Toyota cars on the front row of the grid was special enough, but to see them finish on the podium as well was a really pleasurable sight for the whole team."

Did those initial results have an effect on the team morale?
"Coming into the factory on Monday morning after the race, you could see on everybody's face that the podium results had provided a big motivational boost. We always give our best whatever the result, but finishing on the podium always makes it easier to give even more."

Did you have any nerves after the first two races in Australia-Malaysia when the engine had to run the second race weekend for the first time?
"Honestly, yes. I was confident in the job that my team had done to get the engine as reliable and competitive as possible for the first races. But as we were nearing the end of the Malaysian GP and Jarno was 2nd with Ralf 5th I did start to get a bit nervous and I admit that I watched the remaining few laps with some mixed emotions, all of which changed to happiness when the drivers reached the chequered flag."

Have you experienced any major issues during the season?
"I can't go into detail but certainly what we learned this year is that the quality of parts with a longer-life engine became a very serious issue. In the past you had new component and you designed it, tested it and that was fine. With a 400km engine you were safe. But with a much longer mileage we found that the quality had to be controlled at a much higher level. To perform long-runs over 1500kms during the season took a lot. In the past we could check an engine in one day but now it sometimes takes a week to check one engine. And one engine does not provide a statistical base, you have to test at least two. So the reaction time can become very slow and that was a big change. It added a lot of inertia on creativity because in the past we were much more aggressive in introducing new things. We had a problem with a part we had used since the beginning without any issue and struggled to be able to solve it during the season."

With the advantage of longer stints, how big an issue was fuel economy?
"We worked a lot. In some races we also used engines with extreme mapping in order to be able to do one or two laps more at the end of a stint. The typical optimisation during the engine development is based on improving the specific fuel consumption. Normally you are speaking about small margins as one or two percent is a big number, and the way you use the fuel over the lap is much more significant. You can save up to 10% that way, so we worked mostly on the track and on the dyno only to see if there was any impact on reliability. You always want to reduce the specific fuel consumption – that is the target of an engine man. But it won't bring a big advantage. When you are talking about getting an extra lap on a stint of 10, you are obviously talking about 10%."

How much do you vary the fuel maps and what is the effect on power?
"We have a lot of maps available. Typically there is one for maximum rpm/performance and then we work down, linked to fuel consumption. They will range from a map where, for example, you just save a little bit of fuel and maybe compromise a tenth of a second on a lap, to a very extreme one where you can save up to 10% but you have to make a big compromise on lap time. It sometimes happens that a driver is following another car and can't overtake but will be able to by going one lap further at a pit stop. We have several set-ups, all under the driver's control. Ralf and Jarno have both been really brilliant at managing it, for instance going into fuel saving mode. Who better than them to know how much performance they need in a certain moment?"