Honda F1 project leader Yusuke Hasegawa has outlined a number of reasons why Honda has been struggling so badly in the beginning of the 2017 Formula One season. He confirmed that lots of problems were not discovered while running on the dynamo meter.
And now, the last drop of blood. F1 is collapsing after Mercedes/Ferrari political power and FIA stupid decision; in particular block engine development as they did from 3014 to 2016 and attacking Honda and Ferrari solutions....
F1 as a sport is definitively over for me
Abiteboul just mentioned very recently that partnering with Red Bull is extremely unlikely.
Any thoughts on Honda selling their IP to RBR? I doubt that will happen, and if it does, I doubt it will be cheap.
But a possibility nevertheless, given RBR will be allowed to spend such money with the current financial regulations.
And what are RBR gonna do with their IP? Put it on a shelf? They have no infrastructure or knowledge for engine manufacturing, not mentioning that said IP is worth many millions.
RBR don’t have engine building experience but people like Cosworth and Ilmor do and have said they’d return to F1 in a heartbeat if the right partner appeared.
It will be interesting to see if any of the other manufacturers leave. Renault's financials look abysmal at the moment and it's likely the firm cannot survive without state aid which will be problematic in terms of EU regulation, and may or may not allow for F1 spending.
If F1 does go down to two engine makers [Mercedes/Ferrari], and there isn't another manufacturer waiting in the wings, I sort of expect Cosworth to be drafted in by FOM to become the PU-maker of last resort, which would require a huge investment and a revision of the rules to make it simpler.
Renault is not going to leave, their new head is an F1 fan, budgets are cut, engines are frozen, they are satisfied with everything.
The group made a €700m loss in the first half of 2019. So far, in the first half of 2020, that loss is €7bn. If the rate stays the same, they run out of cash in Q1 2021 (after burning through €5bn of French state loans already arranged).
It doesn't really matter if the CEO is an F1 fan if there's no money.
I just can’t see Renault being interested in supplying Red bull again. Fascinating times. Wasn’t aware it was in the rules that Renault had to supply red bull again if necessary.
Some head scratching going on around red bull now, this was supposed to be the partnership that could propel red bull to titles again.
The maths basically just has a calculation that means where there's a problem with supply, the least-used engine is supplied, and where there is a parity of numbers of supply, then the choices start. Renault currently plan to supply 1 team for 2021 and onward, and that's their own team, Ferrari have 3 teams and Mercedes 4 teams, so the two Redbull outfits have to go to the supplier with only 1 team: Renault.
2022 without Honda (and without any other changes) Mercedes
Williams
Aston Martin
McLaren
Ferrari
Alfa Romeo
Haas
Renault
Redbull
Alpha Tauri
If Renault leaves then I think this is the most likely outcome, depending on whether or not Enstone can find a buyer (it probably can, given the $200m book value of the team entry) Mercedes
Williams
Aston Martin
McLaren
<enstone team>
Redbull’s options;
Option 1- new road car manufacturer gets persuaded to come in- Low chance and they’d need 3-4 years
Option 2- buy engines from Renault badged as something else and huge cost as Renault might be giving another team a chance of beating them and losing constructor’s revenue so they are going to ask for 40million per team to make it worthwhile.. “Nissan Infiniti redbull”
Option 3- partner with Cosworth like with the Valkyrie and go it alone- build their own engine and spend tons.,,- low chance
Option 4- somehow buy honda’s f1 assets and then keep running them and build up a power train team...
Until something better comes along..
Option 5- cry into your sugar puffs as Max is going to leave now..
“I don't believe in luck, luck is preparation and taking your opportunity” Ross Brawn
@Craigy & godlameroso. I appreciate all those points - that's why I said "in an ideal world".
There is another factor following on from godlameroso's post. The race fuel allocation is ample at most tracks (it wouldn't be ample if the flow rate was unlimited). There is a small benefit in starting with less-than-full tanks. There is a bigger benefit in being able to use more of the fuel allocation - effectively. This is another reason to use inefficient strategies like electric supercharger and "retarded timing exhaust harvest".
Worth remembering - over the course of the race:
Total drivetrain energy to the tyres = (Total fuel energy burned x average PU conversion efficiency) + (Braking energy harvested x recycling efficiency).
On the same lines of this, there was a hinted at theory going around that Honda (because of the use cylinder cutting often and aggressively) were at the point that they could use excess fuel and dump it into cylinders that are not currently firing which would combust in the exhaust and drive the turbine which would either keep the turbo on song without MGU-H intervention OR have the MGU-H in generator mode and this would boost electrical generation. Obviously this behaviour is prevalent while cornering for the extra saved energy to be used elsewhere.
This is a very exciting and dramatic. But not desireable in this formula. Fuel is liquid gold. High quality energy that must be burned to extract every Joule. Not a good idea to dump it into a low efficiency process even if it is in excess.
The exhaust and turbine are not designed as a combustion chamber. There is no containment or flame holding or mixing.. So burning fuel in them inefficiently means.. flames and black smoke shooting out the exhaust (watch 1980's F1 when they ran rich in qualifying!) .. We don't see this today.
Another problem. It is not as efficient at low turbine rpm to harvest either. Best to harvest with MGUH at high rpm as the MGUH voltage is higher and there are less electrical losses. But this may be minor..
Think about this scenario...
Braking into corners... Torque demand goes down, turbine speed goes down... Ers is charging at near max current with MGUK. And you can afford to charge using MGUH as compressor flow is now restricted anyway.
Why the mad rush now to dump fuel into the exhaust? I think dumping fuel is not productive when you have free air from the engine as an air pump as it decelerates.
Also explosions inside the turbine is also bad for the life of the turbo charger. The blades have to be loaded against the explosions.
There are some other bad effect i have't mentioned but Overall... I don't think burning fuel in the exhaust is happening.
Very likely that sound is the the cylinder cutting and thus a mix of cold blowing on the unfired cylinders and normal combustion from fired cykinders. The throttle opening is the same for all cylinders i believe so you can't close the unfrmired cylinders individually; they will be pumping air. And this is the sound of that I think.
Edit! I saw the news this morning. I fell asleep before pressing submit this post last night!!
I bet if FIA had allowed development of the engines Honda would have stayed. honda basically will take up their toy and go back home to tinker with it. The PU will live on inside of a laboratory in Sakura.
I bet if FIA had allowed development of the engines Honda would have stayed. honda basically will take up their toy and go back home to tinker with it. The PU will live on inside of a laboratory in Sakura.
Yip, that's what I said earlier. All the cost, none of the opportunity to develop or test it this year or barely next.
Redbull’s options;
Option 1- new road car manufacturer gets persuaded to come in- Low chance and they’d need 3-4 years
Option 2- buy engines from Renault badged as something else and huge cost as Renault might be giving another team a chance of beating them and losing constructor’s revenue so they are going to ask for 40million per team to make it worthwhile.. “Nissan Infiniti redbull”
Option 3- partner with Cosworth like with the Valkyrie and go it alone- build their own engine and spend tons.,,- low chance
Option 4- somehow buy honda’s f1 assets and then keep running them and build up a power train team...
Until something better comes along..
Option 5- cry into your sugar puffs as Max is going to leave now..
re: your Option 2 -- The maximum Renault are allowed to charge by regulation is €12m for an engine supply. It's in the sporting regs.
Is it perhaps time to review the engine regs and allow an 'equivalency formula' where different types of engine can compete?
Some formula to allow a car to be more electrical oriented and still be competitive, as I assume the other makers must be looking in the same direction even if in not so long a view.
When arguing with a fool, be sure the other person is not doing the same thing.