While the technical regulations regarding the power units are going into their 4th stable year, Mercedes' engine Chief, Andy Cowell, has noted there are still gains to be made. Cowell underlined that the key to these continued improvements are Mercedes' proven testing facility.
The failures don't surprise me. I suspect they will retire in a number of races in the first 1/4 of the season.
Mercedes were having to aim for a fake target. They believed Ferrari was legitimately making a lot more power than them so HAD TO push the limits.
This will probably help the championship be closer in the points. Conversely, I suspect near the end of the season when the reliability is totally resolved and they can run max power we will see some crazy performance.
"I think HPP (Mercedes' engine department) are aware of the issues that have occurred over the last few weeks, and they have their own containment measures in place. They tell us they’re not worried, [so] we’re not worried. We think we’ll be in a good place come Melbourne. This is testing, this is what it’s all about.”
Asking about the nature of the oil systems issues, Green revealed Mercedes were already aware before testing about potential flare-ups in that specific part of the power unit. HPP, High Performance Powertrain, are already working on a solution back Brixworth.
“I think [they are] some teething problems, some batch problems, but I think all of them were known problems. None of these are unknown problems, which are the ones that get you. These are known problems that they have fixes for.”
My take on this is that they are bringing engine in-season development work way forward. Last week's engine is the final and working Melbourne spec. This week's is for the testing the engine meant for second half of the season.
Came in here, as directed by Ferrari's tame moderator, to discuss Mercedes's cheating with their PU. But they haven't been cheating, unlike Ferrari, so it'll be a short discussion...
If you are more fortunate than others, build a larger table not a taller fence.
Oil burning have been forbidden for a while but Mercedes and Ferrari continue doing it but these year fia has gone into details to define what's allowed what not.Renault and Honda had not gonna that route so their pu have been pretty reliable throughout testing.
Oil burning have been forbidden for a while but Mercedes and Ferrari continue doing it but these year fia has gone into details to define what's allowed what not.Renault and Honda had not gonna that route so their pu have been pretty reliable throughout testing.
Mercedes have literally never been caught or had anything on the car that suggested oil burning.
Ferrari, on the other hand, were found with additional oil tanks. They were also accused of leaking oil into the intercooler. There seems to be a bit of a pattern emerging with Ferrari and cheating.
Oil burning have been forbidden for a while but Mercedes and Ferrari continue doing it but these year fia has gone into details to define what's allowed what not.Renault and Honda had not gonna that route so their pu have been pretty reliable throughout testing.
Mercedes have literally never been caught or had anything on the car that suggested oil burning.
Ferrari, on the other hand, were found with additional oil tanks. They were also accused of leaking oil into the intercooler. There seems to be a bit of a pattern emerging with Ferrari and cheating.
Oil burning have been forbidden for a while but Mercedes and Ferrari continue doing it but these year fia has gone into details to define what's allowed what not.Renault and Honda had not gonna that route so their pu have been pretty reliable throughout testing.
Mercedes have literally never been caught or had anything on the car that suggested oil burning.
Ferrari, on the other hand, were found with additional oil tanks. They were also accused of leaking oil into the intercooler. There seems to be a bit of a pattern emerging with Ferrari and cheating.
Do you really believe that?
Why don't you instead offer a retort instead of this sort of nonsense?
Mercedes have literally never been caught or had anything on the car that suggested oil burning.
Ferrari, on the other hand, were found with additional oil tanks. They were also accused of leaking oil into the intercooler. There seems to be a bit of a pattern emerging with Ferrari and cheating.
Do you really believe that?
Why don't you instead offer a retort instead of this sort of nonsense?
Mercedes having burnt oil is so extremely straight forward that I couldn’t react in another way, sry.
I don't understand what oil burning has got to do with anything. The F.I.A have imposed limits on how much oil can be burnt, so any team/manufacturer using this avenue as a means to boost power will be limited. I don't see how this relates to Mercedes' reliability concerns surrounding oil lubrication.
Whatever the purpose for burning oil, Mercedes exploited this to the point of taking an early power unit to avoid the lower oil burning requirement.
Whether burning oil is a result of going more extreme on piston rings, or turbo seals which don't seal well at low RPM's, or if they're burning oil for extra power is something we will never know, but we cannot deny what happened in 2018. You noticed how Mercedes engine basically didn't improve from 2018 to 2019, and they have to take extreme measures to stay ahead of Ferrari, and now Honda. The most obvious variable was the lower oil burning requirement, so I don't hold it against people to say Mercedes was exploiting it for gain.
Mercedes plays interesting games, they say they weren't able to use the full potential of last year's engine due to inadequate cooling, yet they design an engine which is made to run hotter, which I fear will lead to the same excuse of not being able to use the full potential of the engine. Better than admitting they've been caught by Honda.
Last edited by godlameroso on 02 Mar 2020, 05:20, edited 1 time in total.
Whatever the purpose for burning oil, Mercedes exploited this to the point of taking an early power unit to avoid the lower oil burning requirement.
Whether burning oil is a result of going more extreme on piston rings, or turbo seals which don't seal well at low RPM's, or if they're burning oil for extra power is something we will never know, but we cannot deny what happened in 2018. You noticed how Mercedes engine basically didn't improve from 2018 to 2019, and they have to take extreme measures to stay ahead of Ferrari, and now Honda. The most obvious variable was the lower oil burning requirement, so I don't hold it against people to say Mercedes was exploiting it for gain.
I never suggested Mercedes hadn't exploited oil burning, I believe they have. My question was how this is related to their recent failures in testing.
