Today there was another article in Motorsport Italy which gives the following figures in terms of peak power during quali:
https://it.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-te ... n=widget-1
Mercedes: 1022hp
Honda: 994 (-28)
Renault: 985 (-37)
Ferrari: 980 (-42)
How actual and accurate it is we cannot really tell, but even if it's true, these numbers don't really tell much on their own.
When I was younger I used to follow drag racing quite a bit. Not particularly a fan, but used to enjoy following with my friends. From this type of racing you learn that bhp on it's own is only a small part of the story. The fastest cars were those that were also generating the highest torque, had the least drag and also were able to put power to the ground most efficiently.
And it's no different in F1 - with the added challenge of having to build a car that is able to find the right balance between being slippery enough in straights whilst generating enough downforce to tackle corners efficiently.
At the moment, apart from speculation of what the bhp is, we don't really know much, but we do know a few other things:
- The RB16 is neither particularly good at straights nor brilliant at cornering
- The car is nervous in corners and it's clear it's not behaving as it was meant to.
Now a lot of people will say "they used a shallower wing than the competition. They must surely have done this to make up for having less power."
Well, something that a lot of people seem to believe is that high rake cars are 'less draggy'. It's actually the opposite. Low rake cars are more efficient.
So why do teams like Red Bull go for high rake cars? The fact is that if and when a high rake car works well, it has several advantages that outweigh the additional drag and can result in a formidable all rounder:
- The car can be built lighter, giving the possibility to add ballast freely to optimise handling across different tracks
- It works better in technical tracks due its shorter wheelbase
- Due to the low pressure created from underneath the floor, the car squats at higher speeds
And herein lies the problem. Unless your concept works as it is intended to, everything comes at a penalty. In regards to a high rake car, this will be even more pronounced in cornering and top speed. What this is to say is that no matter what PU you put in that RB16 at the moment, it will be way slower than the W11.
The main change Red Bull did this year was to the nose, and I very much suspect that this has led to problems with the sealing of the underfloor. Which is the hardest thing to get right in high rake cars. It seems to me that environmental factors might be causing the car to not doing this effectively enough, resulting in all the issues that we have been seeing.
So back to where I started from - the PU power. How much of the 1second deficit to Mercedes yesterday during quali was down to the PU? Even without knowing other factors such as torque, drivability and average power delivery during a lap, I can confidently say this; very little. 0.3 to 0.4 at best. And I dare say this will be even less during the race.
As it stands, the biggest headache for Red Bull is their aero. Until that part is sorted out, any arguments that the 'lower' power delivery by the Honda PU is a major factor, currently holds no water.
Oh, and as a bonus, here's an article by Gary Anderson about Red Bull's high rake problems.
https://the-race.com/formula-1/has-red- ... e-designs/
And now - Fingers crossed for the race!