Engine Unfreeze

[Alexgtt]

They can turn their engines up or down to their hearts desire = maximum development to the extent of the rules. The split between power, drivability and reliability will define how the tokens are spent. They can't play the "wait an see how the rest get on" game because as soon as you do that your fighting uphill. Proactive development not reactive. This is why Merc are in such a strong position and they'll maintain that with maximum development and an ability to "turn up the wick".

[diffuser]

I presume if you start 2015 with a 2014 PU, that 1 PU and the parts encompassing that PU will be stuck in that format for the rest of the year. You can only introduce the token changes on the remaining 3 PUs. Major changes on those 3 PU may limit the interchangeability of the parts with each other and/or the 1st PU.


They got to be very careful in what they're gonna do PU wise. You don't want to leave tokens on the table, nor do you want to incur penalties cause of part incomparability.

[adrianjordan]

Am I right in thinking that they can't go back and reuse an older spec of pu once they bring an updated one?

[bonjon1979]

Am I right in thinking that they can't go back and reuse an older spec of pu once they bring an updated one?

Good point. I'm very confused about all this. They reuse old engines at different race weekends, once they upgrade can they go back and use previous spec PU's? It's such a mess and utterly confusing.

[turbof1]

The FIA clarified a few months back that Caterham, if they are coming back to the grid, would be allowed to use 2014 power units. Other teams might use such a 'clarification' to their own advantage. By now, they'll surely know the answer.

I personally believe they'll be allowed to use both old and new specs. Imagine else what hazards could arise. Example: Mercedes introduces in Melbourne a power unit with 20 used tokens, and they plan to introduce in the 6th race a power unit with 5 more tokens, which are updates to the mgu-k. Now, Hulkenberg's mgu-k dies at at the 4th race, forcing him to use a second mgu-k in the 5th race. But at the 6th race Mercedes introduces and homologates the new parts of the mgu-k. If Hulkenberg is not allowed to keep using the older mgu-k, he needs to use a 3th mgu-k. He'll be stuck with 2 mgu-k's for the remaining 14 races. I can't imagine that being the intent and I believe the fia will allow to let Hulkenberg to run the old mgu-k/

[lebesset]

what's to stop a used engine going back to the factory and being updated to the latest spec ?
frankly i don't know how the FIA ensure that the engine is to the homologated spec anyway !

[bonjon1979]

The FIA clarified a few months back that Caterham, if they are coming back to the grid, would be allowed to use 2014 power units. Other teams might use such a 'clarification' to their own advantage. By now, they'll surely know the answer.

I personally believe they'll be allowed to use both old and new specs. Imagine else what hazards could arise. Example: Mercedes introduces in Melbourne a power unit with 20 used tokens, and they plan to introduce in the 6th race a power unit with 5 more tokens, which are updates to the mgu-k. Now, Hulkenberg's mgu-k dies at at the 4th race, forcing him to use a second mgu-k in the 5th race. But at the 6th race Mercedes introduces and homologates the new parts of the mgu-k. If Hulkenberg is not allowed to keep using the older mgu-k, he needs to use a 3th mgu-k. He'll be stuck with 2 mgu-k's for the remaining 14 races. I can't imagine that being the intent and I believe the fia will allow to let Hulkenberg to run the old mgu-k/

the original intent was clearly that the engines be homologated and fixed for the year. Now that's out of the window, it raises all sorts of difficult questions and inconsistencies in the rules. They're going to have to make it up as they go along. Plus ca change...

[turbof1]

The sporting rules about the power unit need to be completely re-written. One small hole in the rules made the whole structure crumble and thunder down. We have a situation now where the sporting rules are almost completely uncompatible with said situation. Imagine what would have happened if this was the case with the technical rules.

[kptaylor]

The sporting rules about the power unit need to be completely re-written. One small hole in the rules made the whole structure crumble and thunder down. We have a situation now where the sporting rules are almost completely uncompatible with said situation. Imagine what would have happened if this was the case with the technical rules.

Well,technically they are by allowing Manor and Caterham to use 2014 spec cars. "Illegal" noses allowed for just two teams...

[McG]

Count me in the confused category. But as long as they are all treated equally with this token nonsense it could be exciting.

[diffuser]

what's to stop a used engine going back to the factory and being updated to the latest spec ?
frankly i don't know how the FIA ensure that the engine is to the homologated spec anyway !

The PU is broken down in to sections,There are like 6:


ICE - Internal Combustion Engine
TC - Turbo Charger
MGU-K Motor Generator Unit - Kinetic
MGU-H Motor Generator Unit - Heat
ES - Energy Store
CE - Control Electronics

Each one has a seal. If the seal is broken ....it can't be used, disqualification. They're allowed to use 4 each of the above six for the whole season.

[bonjon1979]

The sporting rules about the power unit need to be completely re-written. One small hole in the rules made the whole structure crumble and thunder down. We have a situation now where the sporting rules are almost completely uncompatible with said situation. Imagine what would have happened if this was the case with the technical rules.

Indeed. Personally, I can't see how the FIA would be able to stop teams doing practically what they like with the engines since the rules are such a mess. Maybe completely opening them up for a season will be the simplest way of making sense of it all and rewriting them for 2016. We're not going to get the constant engine development people are talking about because of the 4 engines per year rule and the lead time for parts etc. Plus, teams are going to be super conservative. They're not going to rush in a prototype engine part without thorough testing and time taken to evaluate because if it blows then that's a quarter of their engine allowance gone in a heartbeat. I think we'll see some engine problems in the first tests as teams push the envelope to see which mods they can get away with, then in the final test they'll go to a more conservative set up to start the season with.

[lebesset]

what's to stop a used engine going back to the factory and being updated to the latest spec ?
frankly i don't know how the FIA ensure that the engine is to the homologated spec anyway !

The PU is broken down in to sections,There are like 6:


ICE - Internal Combustion Engine
TC - Turbo Charger
MGU-K Motor Generator Unit - Kinetic
MGU-H Motor Generator Unit - Heat
ES - Energy Store
CE - Control Electronics

Each one has a seal. If the seal is broken ....it can't be used, disqualification. They're allowed to use 4 each of the above six for the whole season.

sure , but who tests each component , and where , before sealing it ?

[FrukostScones]

token time:

https://translate.google.de/translate?s ... t=&act=url

Merc wil app/all. will have used 26, renault 25, Ferr 20 till season start.

leaves 6+7+12 / 3= 8.333 = 8 for Honda

[diffuser]

sure , but who tests each component , and where , before sealing it ?

As per James Allen http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2014/02/f ... r-changes/
How homologation works
On Friday February 28th the engine manufacturers have to place a sample power unit, comprising an engine, battery, motor generator units, in a box together with a disc containing all the drawings of the power unit components. This is then sealed by the FIA and taken away. At any stage of the season they can take out the unit and the drawings and request any engine from the race pool of any team and compare it with what is in the box.

That was last year. This year, I presume, they have to hand over a a whole PU each time they make a change. In the regs I found "Each and every component of the control system will be sealed and uniquely identified and their identities tracked through their life cycle." I'd suspect that the FIA will apply the same treatment to all the PU parts. I just didn't check through every section of the regs.


Parc Ferme Post Quali rules say ...

34.3 At the end of the qualifying practice at least six cars will be chosen at random to undergo further checks, once informed their car has been selected the team concerned must take the car to the parc fermé immediately.