Conspiracy theory - Engine Development

[axle]

I expect I'm wrong so don't flame me - but here me out anyway.

With the news that Lewis' engine has been passed by the FIA, it would be safe to assume that all the teams knew before the German race that the winner's engine eould be the first one to be tested. Yes?

Up to this point in the season, the FIA had NOT been testing engines, correct? And the teams knew they wouldn't get tested. If this isn't correct my theory holds no water.

Theory. Up until the German race (or whichever race saw the introduction of the engine at risk of being tested) Ferrari's engine was NOT legitimate and they had used the time when the FIA couldn't check them to seek out an advantage. Now they have had to resort to the control engine and have found their pace to be lacking as McLaren have made real strides in the aero dept.

Although I doubt this is true...I wouldn't put it passed Ferrari who are past masters at the art of getting round the rules.

[CMSMJ1]

Mate..you must be bored

About as holy as the pope I would say!

Ferrari do not need to run the risk of illegal engines and neither do McLaren.

This is one for the heap, with all respect

[Ciro Pabón]

Well, I think axle is talking about this:

Hamilton's German GP wining engine is taken by FIA

25/07/2008

You'd have to read right through to Page 13 of the FIA's Technical Delegate Report for the German GP to find the note... "The engine of car number 22 is kept sealed in order to carry out further checks according to Article 5 of the 2008 FIA Formula One Technical Regulations. These checks will be done before the Hungarian GP."

http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_ ... t_id=35511

What do you mean he passed? Any links? I haven't read about it...

[Ciro Pabón]

Up to this point in the season, the FIA had NOT been testing engines, correct?

I'm not sure about that, altough the only thing I found in the (only) two FIA Delegate reports is that all engines were checked for max RPM (at the British GP). Anyway, I don't know if someone has the time to read all the reports of this year...

[Conceptual]

From Formula1.com

Q: (Peter Farkas - Auto Motor) Fernando, you and Flavio have both commented that Renault might have been hurt by keeping to the engine freeze much more than the others. Can you explain what you mean by that?
FA: When the engine was frozen two or three years ago I think Renault more or less stopped developing and carried on with the new regulations. At the Viry factory in Paris there are less people working and just the maintenance of the engine. Build the engine and nothing more than that, no research and no developing. I was in another team last year and I know how much they improved the engine during the season and how many steps we introduced and it is the same for all the teams. Every three or four races there is a little step in the engine which gives you some horsepower. For Renault, it has not been like that for the last two years. There has been a lack of power probably in the last three years.

WOW! Alonso throwing McLaren under the bus here???

Well, we know Ferrari were doing the same thing to stay ahead of them then!

Chris

[zac510]

If you read the rules again you'll see there are parts of the engine that are allowed to be changed. Nothing new there.

Alonso seems to be confusing, or perhaps just poor translation, the difference between the freezing of the rules (where they locked down a lot of flexibility on the engines) and the freeze/homologation of the engine itself, which only started this year. So any changes made last year were perfectly legal.

[timbo]

freeze/homologation of the engine itself, which only started this year. So any changes made last year were perfectly legal.

Nope, homologated engines were run since 2007. Teams prepared engines for homologation at 2006 and homologated specs were, as I remember, from before Japan GP (not last race specs).

[timbo]

So any changes made last year were perfectly legal.

However, I didn't mean to doubt that. There's some space for improvements left - and I bet that Ferrari and McLaren used everything possible. I think Renault was just too much chasing for minimizing their expences, policy that Carlos Ghosn strictly follows.

[zac510]

timbo, yeah you're right too, just a little confusion. I was referring to this quote "each team may only use a 2007-spec engine design that is to be "delivered (to the FIA) no later than 31 March 2008"″ from the FIA which makes it sound like it started this year.

[timbo]

timbo, yeah you're right too, just a little confusion. I was referring to this quote "each team may only use a 2007-spec engine design that is to be "delivered (to the FIA) no later than 31 March 2008"″ from the FIA which makes it sound like it started this year.

And for 2007 they used engines delivered from 2006 - passing the torch

[ben_watkins]

...Hamilton's German GP wining engine is taken by FIA


What do you mean he passed? Any links? I haven't read about it...

It was given all clear

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/69522

[WhiteBlue]

The FIA will check Felipe Massa's engine this week according to Autosport.

[donskar]

The FIA will check Felipe Massa's engine this week according to Autosport.

And the results of that checking will have no relationship whatsoever to the LH affair.

[jon-mullen]

My understanding of the engine freeze is that things like the oil pump, ignition, radiators, etc., are still open to changes but the 2.4L itself cannot be changed without petitioning the FIA and showing that the change would increase reliability and decrease cost. Is this correct?

So does anyone know how many times each team has petitioned the FIA to change the 2.4L itself? Or if anyone even has?

It seems to me they should just get rid of that clause all together. Increasing reliability allows you to increase performance, that's the balance that every team tries to find.

[modbaraban]

My understanding of the engine freeze is that things like the oil pump, ignition, radiators, etc., are still open to changes but the 2.4L itself cannot be changed without petitioning the FIA and showing that the change would increase reliability and decrease cost. Is this correct?

AFAIK, yes. Plus the exhaust system can be modified at will too.