In b4 mercedes takes no engine related penalties all year, while easily dominating all power tracks (like all the years so far)
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Renault's Cyril Abiteboul has revealed that the French manufacturer aims to continue its ascent in the engine department as the company is preparing a completely new platform, including novel technology that has not yet been seen on the track.
Using the works Renault as a case in point, the packing under the surface has changed significantly and that's partly been facilitated by some tweaks to the power unit package. Presumably, Red Bull with its tight sidepods has been helped by the same thing.
"It's a step forward," says Renault chassis technical director Nick Chester. "The packaging is a bit better for us and there's a little more power.
"It's an evolution of what we finished the year with, so there's a few things that are going to help us performance wise. But the biggest thing was making sure we could run a season on three engines, so they've worked very hard over the winter."
That performance gain is marginal, particularly given Ferrari and, in particular, Mercedes will also have gained over the winter. In Abu Dhabi last year, the Renault power units were sacrificing about three-tenths of performance in the name of reliability that should now be available. That plus a sundry tenth probably adds up to the performance gain Chester refers to.
https://www.autosport.com/f1/feature/80 ... r-red-bullLate last year, Renault started to phase in its G-spec V6 engine, which featured improved combustion chamber technology. This went well, and what might be termed the 'conventional' side of the game is at least close to where Mercedes and Ferrari are. But the potential for disparity in ERS performance is greater. This is where Renault's reliability main problems lie, this is where its theoretical performance is hidden and this is at the centre of its plans for a conservative start to this season.
"It's coming. I don't want to say too much now, but we have an important development in-season that should change the energy recovery related elements"
Cyril Abiteboul on Renault's new MGU-K
At the heart of the problem is the MGU-K. The first-generation Renault MGU-K was produced in association with Italian company Magneti Marelli. Renault decided to go it alone for the second generation, which was supposed to be introduced at the start of last season. It was postponed because of reliability problems, and it remains postponed.
Abiteboul won't be drawn on when this will be ready to race, and that's maybe because he doesn't yet know. But Renault is certainly hoping to introduce that specification during this season. The first window of opportunity will be whenever the scheduled second power units come on stream for the Renault teams, but he won't commit to a timescale for the arrival of a part that, when it has run in testing, has not been reliable.
McLaren uses BP/Castrol, it's just being rebranded to Petrobras.
Petrobras will do that next year. Mobil 1 does develop fuel for Red Bull, although I don't know about the differences.CLKGTR wrote: ↑02 Mar 2018, 01:48I didn't know that Petrobras thing was just a rebranding because news said that 'McLaren changes fuel supplier again', nobody says it's the same fuel
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/13445 ... lier-again
And what about Red Bull and their Esso fuel and lubricants? I doubt same engine delivers same power with different fuels and lubricants.
That sounds like a terrible way to make what should be a very precise product.NL_Fer wrote: ↑02 Mar 2018, 10:47I know that pumpgas here is mixed at the distribution center. This center has one big tank of basic euro 95 and every brand adds their own mix of additives when they fill up the tanker truck.
Could this be possible for F1, where Esso/Petrobras are suppling barels of a basic spec and BP adds their “magic” mix?
