Why are Ferrari suddenly experiencing engine problems and Renault falling behind on power? I thought that the engine spec was frozen and that power and reliability would not change during the season.
That is a question being asked in the paddock too at the moment.
As far as I understand, there have been clear windows of opportunity to revise and refine engine packages before the new freeze dates; and in any event where there are proven reliability issues, such that any change fixes a problem but doesn’t improve performance, the modifications have been permitted.
Needless to say, with so many clever people involved and such enormous budgets and resources they will always find ways to increase performance within the strict terms of the regulations.
Parts of the inlet and exhaust are free and, for example, there has been an enormous amount of work on fuel and oil composition so as to improve outright performance.
The gearbox is free for development which no doubt generates a reduction in power loss through the transmission.
It is clear then to see how car performance might improve, albeit now by reduced amounts.
Reliability issues can creep in due to lack of quality control leading to a bad batch of parts getting into the system, or simply finger trouble in putting the motors together.
It is interesting that Raikkonen’s engine failed within a few miles of that calculated for Massa’s engine when it let go in Hungary.
A driver can damage his engine if he keeps bouncing it off the rev limiter too much through corners and at the upshifts, but he can’t really break them with over-revs on downshifts.
I suspect we know very little of what really goes on behind the scenes with engine development changes for ‘reliability reasons’.
It appears that
Renault may not have been as pro-active as other engine manufacturers to increase their power during the windows of opportunity and I understand that a recent request by them for ‘reliability’ upgrades was vetoed by another team.
Was it
FERRARI. ??
??? (answers on a post card)
