The V6 Engines

[Fenderman]

IMHO it's more interesting see how each power unit in each car is doing. So far Nico Rosberg's power unit has survived the most laps at 97. That's almost double that so far clocked up by the next man, Esteban Gutierez at 53 laps under Ferrari power.

2014 Jerez test Unofficial times. Power units in brackets
Day 1
1 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari (own mfg) 1:27.104s, 31 laps
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes (own mfg) 1:27.820s, 18 laps
3 Valtteri Bottas Williams (Mercedes) 1:30.082s, 7 laps
4 Sergio Perez Force India (Mercedes) 1:33.161s, 11 laps
5 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso (Renault) 1:36.530s, 15 laps
6 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber (Ferrari, 1:42.257s, 7 laps
7 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing (Renault) No time, 3 laps
8 Marcus Ericsson Caterham (Renault) No time, 1 lap
Day 2
1 Jenson Button McLaren (Mercedes) 1:24.165 43 laps
2 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari (own mfg) 1:24.812 47 laps
3 Valtteri Bottas Williams (Mercedes) 1:25.344 35 laps
4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes (own mfg) 1:25.588 97 laps
5 Sergio Pérez Force India (Mercedes) 1:28.376 37 laps
6 Esteban Gutiérrez Sauber (Ferrari) 1:33.270 53 laps
7 Marcus Ericsson Caterham (Renault) 1:37.975 11 laps
8 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull (Renault) 1:38.320 8 laps

 

[no-FIAt-please]

A combined position of 15 out of 16 for Vettel...

 

[Bushi]

Haven't you noseiced that there has been quite a lot of innovation in other areas? I agree with you on the whole though.

Except from some nose differences and a upside down suspension or whatever that is at the back of that Mclaren, no.
Problem with the FIA is that when a team is to innovative and finds something it get's banned the next year.

Why can't they be like, guys for next year you can only use 100kg of fuel and the min. amount of BHP is 750, do whatever you like to get that.

 

[sushifiesta]

I think the noseiced pun went over everyone's head....

 

[sushifiesta]

Mercedes vs. Renault engine :

 

[Jen]

I think the noseiced pun went over everyone's head....

The pun would only have relevance if you were pissed! "T" is a very definite sound, bit like the engines

 

[soccerman17]

Mercedes vs. Renault engine :
[/media]

Imagine being behind the wheel of that Renault vehicle (I think its the Toro Rosso but damned Red Bull liveries be messin with me head). Just a frightening thought though.

 

[sushifiesta]

Ted Kravitz (in Ted's notebook) mentioned yesterday that with the new complicated engine/powertrains a gearbox change is taking three hours and a full engine change six hours. This means an issue with one of those systems in FP1 will mean missing FP2, and an issue in FP3 will mean missing qualifying, which is an interesting point and could cause some grid shake-ups.

 

[Fenderman]

I haven't noticed this mentioned elsewhere but Cosworth are continuing development of their V6 for F1. It looks like it will/may be an option for teams in 2015. More power units = more variety, so in that sense a good thing. Let's hope they build a more competitive unit this time.

http://www.racecar-engineering.com/news/cosworth-reveals-2014-f1-power-unit/

 

[sushifiesta]

I sneaked it in at the end of my original post :

Manufacturers: Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault are the only manufacturers supplying engines in 2014. Honda will return in 2015 to supply McLaren (and presumably others). It has also emerged that Cosworth have developed an engine so it can make a return to Formula 1 at some point (http://www.racecar-engineering.com/news/cosworth-reveals-2014-f1-power-unit/). The engine manufacturers will supply the following teams in 2014:

That piece of news has slipped under the radar. I'm not sure how much I fancy their chances of competing against the other manufacturers, and that makes me think we might never see it race.

 

[Blog Zbod]

There can only be just so much smoke bottled up in those Red Bulls. Eventually they will let it all out and then they'll be good to go.

Ted Kravitz (in Ted's notebook) mentioned yesterday that with the new complicated engine/powertrains a gearbox change is taking three hours and a full engine change six hours....

Race prep now takes fully twice the man-hours it did in 2013.

I haven't noticed this mentioned elsewhere but Cosworth are continuing development of their V6 for F1. It looks like it will/may be an option for teams in 2015. More power units = more variety, so in that sense a good thing. Let's hope they build a more competitive unit this time....

No idea whether it was deliberate or not but the advantage they and Honda have is that their F1 engines are not yet subject to the freeze. So balance the advantage of the reliability that will come from a season's worth of competing/de-bugging (for Ferrari, Mercedes & Renault) versus the better design that Cosworth and Honda will begin with because they can observe and avoid the pitfalls the other three fall victim to.

 

[Fenderman]

I've just been delving deeper into Racecar Engineering where hey have a much more revealing shot of the "blockers". I wasn't convinced from previous photo's I'd seen that they were an intrinsic part of the suspension, lo and behold they are. Doh! They also look very boxy shrouding two suspension "rods" on each side. I haven't posted the photo but the article and shots are here: http://www.racecar-engineering.com/cars/mclaren-mp4-29/

 

[sushifiesta]

Blog Zbod As far as I know there's nothing stopping Ferrari/Renault/Mercedes from developing and testing the engines throughout the year, they just can't race the upgraded versions. If they have the time/resources to do that of course.

 

[Bill Boddy]

One of the problems that RBR have is that so far the smoke coming out of them has been to the detriment of the back end of the car.

 

[F1Yorkshire]

It's not engine smoke. It's coloured vapour for looking at the aerodynamics at the rear of the car!

 

[Bushi]

No idea whether it was deliberate or not but the advantage they and Honda have is that their F1 engines are not yet subject to the freeze. So balance the advantage of the reliability that will come from a season's worth of competing/de-bugging (for Ferrari, Mercedes & Renault) versus the better design that Cosworth and Honda will begin with because they can observe and avoid the pitfalls the other three fall victim to.

Isn't the freeze starting from next year, with some small part to begin with?

 

[Chris Stevens]

The way I see it, you don't need to know all the incredibly complicated system that is the new power unit. I, personally, find it interesting and want to know more, but that's just me. It's not essential to the viewing of F1. All you need to know: it makes the car go forward, and they make a pretty cool sound as well

 

[Chris Stevens]

Sergio They will definately be quicker by the time we reach Melbourne, probably 1-2 seconds, and they will get MUCH quicker as the season progresses

 

[Mephistopheles]

If cars actually do get faster as the season progresses and I've always wondered by what yardstick this is measured by how do you explain this?

Barcelona 2013 testing fastest time (Full circuit.) Nico Rosberg: 1m20.130s

Barcelona 2013 pole position Nico Rosberg: 1m20.718s

That's 0.580s slower...

 

[Fenderman]

If by "full circuit" that means not having to negotiate the rubbish chicanery on the last turn that was put in as a safety improvement, then the faster time in the test will be down to that. Having to brake for it and negotiate not only costs near on a second but also the exit speed is slower and loses almost another second on the straight.