Just on the Merc Engines (and I was poking the bee hive with a stick) have the other teams copied the split drive/compressor design Mercedes used last year?
Honda have gone the same route I believe running the shaft right through the valley of the engine. Ferrari had a split setup last year - turbine/ERS-H/Compressor albeit all mounted at the back of the engine, but I believe they had really bad heat soak problems and have gone away from that setup. I think I'm also right in saying that their internal combustion engine performance was never in doubt last year, but had quite a deficit in the ERS-H area due to this overheating issue which they have got round over the winter, providing a good chunk of their engines increased competitiveness....
So when these engines arrive they don't come with a set of instructions like an Ikea flat pack, the teams build their own exhausts and decide on the placement of the various units? Do they have to build their own intercooler and radiator systems?
Yep, air-box, plumbing, intercoolers, radiators, exhaust etc etc all done by the individual team. Certain teams use water to air intercoolers (or charge coolers), which are less efficient generally at cooling the charge air (because ultimately the water in the system heats up), but they are far smaller for the same effect so much neater to package in the side pods giving an aero benefit.
