Ferrari Power Unit Hardware & Software

[Mr.G]

Is there still oil vapour coming from Ferrari engines?

Today the fourth day of testing the FERRARI was still smoking driving out from the pit lane but not on track.

They are saving that for Q

[F1NAC]

Wastegate sound is gone this year? I don't remember hearing it

[roon]

It's about efficiency. You want as little weight as possible on the pistons and connecting rods, as this is wasted energy in a energy (fuel) limited formula. So in a perfect world you would reach the minimum weight, just as the teams try to with the whole car.

Having compatible thermal expansion between piston and liner, steel with surface finishing offering lower friction coefficient and piston skirt surface area reduced. The shape optimisations possible at operating temperature identified under numerical simulation at high mesh resolution only really limited by machine and tooling. Iterative optimisation they know the temperature and forces.

The kinematic behavior of the crank mechanism is improved, lower dead volume at top land, reduced blowby and more efficient combustion (less UHC, more complete) , K. Schreer "Analysis of aluminum and steel pistons" Journal of engineering for gas turbines and power.

The steel piston with or without tbc coating shown to improve combustion via various means, the surface temperature is more homogeneous.
With efficiency the #1 priority making steel pistons work was a priority to a big step change increase to overall engine efficiency.
TBC coatings on steel pistons are more durable than on aluminum, you can rely on the thermal behavior being consistent and improving combustion efficiency, lean limits and less coefficient of variance in the combustion phasing, less stresses on rotating assembly.

One thing to note with low temperature combustion with high bMEP is turning off the piston squirter leads to a 1.4% increase in Thermal efficiency, cooling the piston is killing TE.

Construct the block and heads from steel as well. Allow the entire engine to run hotter. Reduce heat rejection to the radiators. Perhaps the rules preclude non-aluminum alloys from being used in this manner.

Is there any likelihood that steel combustion chambers (the upper portion) are being used toward similar benefit?

[MarcJ]

It's about efficiency. You want as little weight as possible on the pistons and connecting rods, as this is wasted energy in a energy (fuel) limited formula. So in a perfect world you would reach the minimum weight, just as the teams try to with the whole car.

Having compatible thermal expansion between piston and liner, steel with surface finishing offering lower friction coefficient and piston skirt surface area reduced. The shape optimisations possible at operating temperature identified under numerical simulation at high mesh resolution only really limited by machine and tooling. Iterative optimisation they know the temperature and forces.

The kinematic behavior of the crank mechanism is improved, lower dead volume at top land, reduced blowby and more efficient combustion (less UHC, more complete) , K. Schreer "Analysis of aluminum and steel pistons" Journal of engineering for gas turbines and power.

The steel piston with or without tbc coating shown to improve combustion via various means, the surface temperature is more homogeneous.
With efficiency the #1 priority making steel pistons work was a priority to a big step change increase to overall engine efficiency.
TBC coatings on steel pistons are more durable than on aluminum, you can rely on the thermal behavior being consistent and improving combustion efficiency, lean limits and less coefficient of variance in the combustion phasing, less stresses on rotating assembly.

One thing to note with low temperature combustion with high bMEP is turning off the piston squirter leads to a 1.4% increase in Thermal efficiency, cooling the piston is killing TE.

Construct the block and heads from steel as well. Allow the entire engine to run hotter. Reduce heat rejection to the radiators. Perhaps the rules preclude non-aluminum alloys from being used in this manner.

Is there any likelihood that steel combustion chambers (the upper portion) are being used toward similar benefit?

The lubricants preferred operating temperature needs to be maintained.

With the engines operation biasing towards driving the exhaust gas turbines, lower temperature combustion and new nano fluid coolants with enhanced heat transfer, the coolant with 5 micron graphene being used, FlexeGRAPH in ICE and hybrid systems.

These engines and the engineering decisions to optimise their operation means you cannot apply conventional wisdom, it will be wrong if you try.

[dfegan358]

Anybody any insight or knowledge on the 2019 Ferrari power unit?

Where any of Ferraris (or haas) reliability gremlins in week 2 of testing directly related to the power unit?

Heard a lot of talk about Renault and Honda PU but this years Ferrari spec not gathering much news

[Phlumbert]

Not so sure on the validity on this:

https://twitter.com/SmilexTech/status/1 ... 35264?s=19

Power Unit in safe mode to avoid reliability problems. More exhaust arrangement to compensate for lack of CV. With a front end not at the height and so much understeer at the entrance of the curve in Australia you do not go strong, especially in qualifying.

"More exhaust" - I think the translation is wrong - should be "less down force".

Which was a reply to this:

https://twitter.com/mattiamaestri46/sta ... 5461935105

Where do you think Ferrari's missing? It seems a lack of engine...

[LM10]

Not so sure on the validity on this:

https://twitter.com/SmilexTech/status/1 ... 35264?s=19

Power Unit in safe mode to avoid reliability problems. More exhaust arrangement to compensate for lack of CV. With a front end not at the height and so much understeer at the entrance of the curve in Australia you do not go strong, especially in qualifying.

"More exhaust" - I think the translation is wrong - should be "less down force".

Which was a reply to this:

https://twitter.com/mattiamaestri46/sta ... 5461935105

Where do you think Ferrari's missing? It seems a lack of engine...

Interesting news, thank you for posting. However, a bit worrying that they still have not managed to solve the reliability problems. Hopefully they will be on top of things as soon as possible. Does someone have more details on what exactly causes the issues?

Being on a lower engine mode and thus also having to compensate for it with some aero tweaks would explain to an extend why Ferrari was miles behind Mercedes, especially on front end. Mercedes changed direction much better. The Ferrari looked very understeery in comparison. This alone would minimize your performance significantly as it's crucial to have a nimble car in Melbourne, which the poster also hinted at.

Anyway, Melbourne can be considered a Mercedes track already and I doubt they would have given front row away even with Ferrari being on top of their problems. I'm curious about next races and if/how much Ferrari can close the gap to Mercedes.

[f1jcw]

If their is a engine issue, why has it only effected Ferrari and not the customer teams.

[LM10]

If their is a engine issue, why has it only effected Ferrari and not the customer teams.

The way I understood it was that it was Ferrari's own decision to have the engine in save mode not to risk anything. Better to go for points than to lose all of them. The customer teams might have decided for themselves to be in high engine modes.

[f1jcw]

If their is a engine issue, why has it only effected Ferrari and not the customer teams.

The way I understood it was that it was Ferrari's own decision to have the engine in save mode not to risk anything. Better to go for points than to lose all of them. The customer teams might have decided for themselves to be in high engine modes.

With merc also having a questionable engine, the only engine going full beans could be the Honda

[djones]

I'm not buying the engine issues.

The team and pit wall looked too shocked at the pace for it to be something they knew about.

[MtthsMlw]

Just gonna copy u/beckersCS post on reddit here.
Observations of the PU:

• Kimi Q3 dropping RPM on his way to turn 11 (between 3:20 and 3:23) and complaining that he likely ran out of the 'K'.
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipI7g21 ... u.be&t=195

• Grosjean radio ''ran out of SOC twice'' in Q3:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w_osfJvNrg

• Ferrari powered cars quite far down the speed traps:
  https://i.imgur.com/JFeWIkK.jpg

• Vettel doing a lot lift and coast which might get indicated by that green led:
  https://streamable.com/seq60

• Vettel RPM drop and asking about his PU:
  https://streamable.com/s19in

• Leclerc RPM drop (?) right under the Rolex ad:
  https://streamable.com/iro84

Source

[LM10]

Just gonna copy u/beckersCS post on reddit here.
Observations of the PU:

• Kimi Q3 dropping RPM on his way to turn 11 (between 3:20 and 3:23) and complaining that he likely ran out of the 'K'.
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipI7g21 ... u.be&t=195

• Grosjean radio ''ran out of SOC twice'' in Q3:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w_osfJvNrg

• Ferrari powered cars quite far down the speed traps:
  https://i.imgur.com/JFeWIkK.jpg

• Vettel doing a lot lift and coast which might get indicated by that green led:
  https://streamable.com/seq60

• Vettel RPM drop and asking about his PU:
  https://streamable.com/s19in

• Leclerc RPM drop (?) right under the Rolex ad:
  https://streamable.com/iro84

Source

Vettel's red lights at the back of the car blinked quite often in the race today. Also indicating some issue with SOC.
These RPM drops also are strange.

I hope Ferrari can fix that as soon as possible. In Melbourne a problematic engine would not hurt you as much as it would in Bahrain or even China.

[CriXus]

F1 Australia GP: The strange use of the Ferrari PU

Translation :

During the race we noticed a very cautious use of the Ferrari power unit, as if to confirm the post qualifying rumors, which spoke of a weakened engine to avoid technical problems in the race . Techniques that Ferrari had accused in the second week of testing in Barcelona.

Taking advantage of the work of Alex Brunetti (which you can find on his Twitter account), who followed the race from the pilots' onboard camera and heard all of Sebastian Vettel's radio teams, you may notice a quite unusual use of the Ferrari power unit.

The first strangeness concerns the narrow use of the mapping carried out in the first phase of the race. In fact, Vettel's Rossa goes off with the engine 1 mapping (which should be the most thrust), and after a few laps it passes to a much calmer engine map, engine 5. A very different choice than last season, when it went down gradually from mapping 1 to mapping 3-4. Yet at that stage Vettel had to stay close to the Mercedes duo so as not to let them escape.

The most extreme mapping (engine 1) is authorized only before the German pit stop, which took place during the fifteenth lap, in the race phase in which Ferrari was trying to fill the gap with Lewis Hamilton. This mapping is no longer used even during the defense on Verstappen, during lap number 31. In that phase of the race Vettel's SF-90 was set to a very bland engine mapping, engine 5, when normally, so as not to lose the position, you opt for the mapping engine 1, taking into consideration also the fact that the Dutch had mounted only a few laps the new medium rubber, compared to the yellow rubber already used by about fifteen laps by the German. This explains how Verstappen managed to "strip" the Ferrari into the straight that leads into turn three with a Honda power unit,

The quirks continue even in the middle phase of the race, when Vettel begins to "pull" the gears too much, especially on turn 13 and 14, to try to have higher engine revs, presumably to push the MGU-H to the maximum , as if there was a need to recharge so much, taking advantage of an extreme SOC (state of charge) mapping. A few laps later another Vettel radio team arrives in which he talks about "lag" in his power unit, thus a delay in power delivery, perhaps due to a non-perfect functioning of the turbo part?

Feelings relating to a problematic power unit are again recognized by Vettel, who at about twenty laps from the end asks Riccardo Adami if he is all right on his car and asks why he is going very slow, who dribbles the question saying that everything is ok. At the end of the race in Ferrari they decide to freeze the positions, not allowing Leclerc to overtake a Vettel in obvious difficulty

[Zynerji]

Any updates on the special, expensive fuel additive for this year? Are all Ferrari powered cars now using it, or did they back away from that additive completely for 2019?