Yes, you make a fair point - that did occur to me somewhat when I was writing it.Blaze1 wrote: ↑24 Nov 2017, 09:56You start by saying that you don't know how the majority without inside knowledge can have a basis for what looks right, then proceed to detail the opposite. I think there is enough information out there from qualification sessions and the races to form a good basis.f1316 wrote: ↑24 Nov 2017, 09:44I don’t know how the majority on here (other than those with inside knowledge) can have much basis for what *looks right*.
We have reasonable data (Q3 performance, straight line speeds) to assume that the Ferrari is relatively close to the Mercedes in terms of peak power but little to go on that tells us anything about efficiency and, perhaps more importantly, strategy.
Because this is also about tactics for how you choose to go racing and how you want to achieve longevity from your PU. If Mercedes take the view that our optimal strategy is to have high enough peak power to achieve pole and then achieve the 4 PU limit via lower mode usage in races (benefiting also from lower weight) then this makes a lot of sense and explains to some extent relative competitiveness on Sat/Sun.
Likewise, if Ferrari, in the position of challenger, feel the best way to put pressure on their previously dominant opponent is to create a powerful unit that can run at higher modes for longer - with a stretch objective of meeting the 4 PU rule - this is also logical and goes some way to explaining failures late in the year.
So personally I see nothing in these figures that seems suspicious - acknowledging that since these are averages, if you looked at Brazil only it may have closed up somewhat - rather I think it provides some rationale to things like Haas claiming the Ferrari PU is more powerful despite evidence to contrary on power-dependant circuits (the Mercedes has more places to go when it needs to - e.g. they stick more fuel in at Monza, knowing they’ll have to compensate by running th engine lower elsewhere, like Malaysia).
If Mercedes is running less race fuel they will suffer with less average power and this should be visible in the top speed traces. While the teams vary strategy and deployment, I doubt the differences (particularly between Ferrari and Mercedes) would be as high as 10% average.
That said, my point was that I can’t see the numbers and prove or disprove them either way; we can say that, if true they mean this and speak to the logic of that, but we have no empirical evidence to call into question Wazari’s numbers.
RBR is the most efficient chasis out there, so the number seems right
