Renault permitted to make engine changes...again

[Brogan]

Renault have once again been permitted to make engine changes to reduce costs and improve reliability.

Is it right that Renault should be granted special dispensation again to modify their engine?
All of the other manufacturers have managed to work within the rules, so why not Renault?

Once again Christian Horner has a pop at Mercedes whilst simultaneously failing to note that it was in fact a Ferrari 1-2 at Bahrain, with Alonso's fastest lap being quite a bit quicker than the fastest Mercedes.

Renault has been given approval to make a 'large' number of improvements to its engines for cost and reliability reasons, AUTOSPORT has learned, even though the FIA has ruled out any form of power equalisation for this year.
[...]
Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner said: ... "So there has to be a balancing of that, otherwise we will end up with Mercedes-powered cars winning all the races - which I think is not good for F1. And other manufacturers may choose to leave F1 off of the back of that.

Notice the not-so-veiled threat of Renault leaving F1....again

Quite frankly I'm getting tired of Horner always griping about something and Renault constantly using the threat of leaving F1 if they don't get their own way.
Let them go I say. F1 will get along fine without them.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/82246

 

[sobriety]

Why not just unfreeze engine development and let them get on with it?

 

[Speshal]

The amount of quotes that I've read from Horner already this season that are pretentious pontification, is he now the go to man for a quote this season?

"The engine isn't supposed to be a key performance differentiator and therefore hopefully the ruling body will balance out somewhat the differences there at the moment."

Yeah hopefully they'll convince you to make your own?

Back to Renault, why are they the only team to get an exception? oooooh we'll threaten to leave if we can't?

Rubbish, let Cosworth have free reign to develop theirs all season and then see how much Horner bleats.

He's quickly pissing me off.

 

[Brogan]

"The engine isn't supposed to be a key performance differentiator"

At the risk of asking the obvious, if the "engine isn't supposed to be a key performance differentiator" then what is?

Does F1 even know what it wants to be anymore?

 

[snowy]

There are a lot of things about this decision I don't like. The assertion that engines are not a key performance differentiator, shows that the decision makers in F1 belong in an insane asylum.

 

[fedupwithuserids]

Brogan said :

Let them go I say. F1 will get along fine without them.

I'll second that.

Do you think its a case that the RBR cars have an inherent reliabilty problem that will affect them throughout the season. So in the usual FIA fairness (you can do it providing you are not McLaren) they've bent the rules.

 

[genji]

There are a lot of things about this decision I don't like. The assertion that engines are not a key performance differentiator, shows that the decision makers in F1 belong in an insane asylum.

That assertion isn't being made by this decision, just reinforced. Homologation and the engine freeze removed the effect they have on performance. They're just spec engines now, with performance being determined by the chassis.

That's my understanding, anyway. The point is, whichever engine a team runs, it shouldn't affect their performance. In practice, there are small effects in terms of ultimate horsepower, reliability and fuel consumption, but on paper the Renault should be wholly equivalent to the Mercedes-Benz.

I agree - it's utterly insane for F1.

 

[sobriety]

Surely the best way of making F1 relevent would be to have spec chassis and aero, and totally unfettered development on engines, brakes, kers etc. i.e. the stuff that may actually trickle down and have an effect on road car development?

 

[siffert_fan]

This is one area that I have never really understood. They have been give approval to make inprovements for cost and reliability but not for power. How do they verify that the improvements to the former haven't made defacto increases in the latter? Is it strictly an "honor system" or is there policing via dynos etc?

Thanks to anyone who can clarify this for me.

 

[FB]

we will end up with Mercedes-powered cars winning all the races

Excuse me for pointing ou the bleedin' obvious here but weren't Red Bull Renault on pole in Bahrain and scampering away from the rest of the field until they had an electronic (spark plug?) problem with the engine. The engine was then won by a Ferrari with a Ferrari in 2nd place.

Doesn't look to me much like there is either a problem with the Renault engine or appear to point towards a Mercedes powered car winning all the races. I think he doth protest too much, either that or Horner has no faith in his engineers car design or his drivers.

 

[snowy]

I suppose the power delivery, torque and other characterists of an engine don't count for much in the scheme of things... On "The Grid" today Mike Gascoyne said "if a car is 2 seconds off the pace, it is a certainty that 1.8 of the deficit is aerodynamic.

Then again since the difference between the top teams can be measured in hundreths of a second that would make the qualities of the engine a lot more relevant. unish:

Also if you have to start a race with 10Ltrs more fuel on board (as Ferrari are reported to do) then that is a pretty significant
differentiation, is it not? unish:

 

[snowy]

Lewis Hamilton says the Red Bull is much quicker than Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes:

"The Red Bull is ridiculously faster than anyone else's car... Fernando I think was very quick in the race and they are obviously a little bit closer, but it's a good half second."

"We are kind of on the same level as Mercedes I would say. We just did maybe a better job at the weekend but... it's a battle between us and Mercedes to see who can step up and improve faster and do a better job. Red Bull might have the fastest car, but if we can beat them on reliability..."

Sorry Lewis that door is going to be shut in your face.

 

[genji]

Sorry Lewis that door is going to be shut in your face.

What makes you say that, snowy? I know it's only one race but Red Bull/Renault haven't had the greatest start this season and their lack of reliability hurt them last season.

 

[snowy]

It was predominently engine reliability that let Red Bull down, Red Bull run Renault engines, Renault are being allowed to improve their reliability by the FIA, this thread is about Renault being allowed to make changes and improve reliability...

 

[genji]

Ah, ok.