Fuels and lubricants can make the difference - Chevrier
Denis Chevrier, the ING Renault F1 Team Head of Engine Trackside Operations, confirms the quality of the links uniting Renault and Elf, which have helped the team to make progress over the past few seasons.
"It’s mainly at the level of the formulation of the fuel and the lubricants that it’s possible to gain some extra horsepower. In the first case, combustion is optimised according to specific constraints like the engine’s maximum revs; and in the second, the role of the chemists is to find a viscosity that limits friction to the maximum. But the lubricant must always contain some basic anti-wear properties to guarantee reliability."
Which of these two areas offers the most possibilities for development?"Fuels have to comply with drastically severe standards. In fact, the technical regulations leave little room for innovation, and any major gain is effectively forbidden. There’s more freedom in the area of lubricants and that’s where it’s possible to find a little more horsepower. Over time, though, these performance gains become smaller and smaller and more and more difficult to find. Nonetheless, they can make the difference and each significant evolution is worth adopting."
The links between Renault and Elf are rather rare in the history of racing: are they an asset?"Of course. The historic partnership that links Renault and Elf is based on the same technical approach, a common philosophy and total openness. It’s all the more precious an asset as our task becomes increasingly difficult due to the regulations. In the past, each evolution of our engine was accompanied by a specific lubricant formulation. It was an interdependent system in which one parameter led to another. Today, one of the variables of this system is frozen, as the technical specification of the V8 can no longer evolve. The mutual ratchet effect doesn’t exist any more so improvements are increasingly difficult to find."
In what other areas can the petrol companies help find performance?"In addition to the fuel and oils Elf supplies grease for the transmission, gearbox oil as well as brake and cooling liquids. Adding together small performance gains in all these areas can lead to significant progress. That can bring about concrete results when you know that getting into the final part of qualifying is often decided by hundredths of a second."
Related newsarticles:
'Fuels and lubricants: the search for more power' -> http://www.f1technical.net/news/7819
'We gain 3 to 4 horsepower with the oil evolutions - Girard' -> http://www.f1technical.net/news/7825
Source Renault
