Yes
been lax. I'll run over the main points , some may also have been mentioned before. Also not sure this is exactly the same as the ten point article online. But here we are, it's better than nothing.
Merc doing well because of it's close work with Petronas from the off . force India and Williams use same fuel so also get the benefit.
COO of Petronas said these engines need new kind of fuel and hardly anything can be taken from the past. He's been in the business 20 yrs and never has fuel been a design element from the concept of the engine
Significant power difference between same engines but different fuel . 30bhp.
Vettel pointed out in Spain that a new fuel from Shell gave Nando a 7km/h speed boost down the straight in China.
Efficiency is power. Lap time can be delivered from more use of MGU-H which can be charged through fuel use.
Fuel consumption can directly influence end of straight speed quit a lot.
If you can gain sufficient fuel to spend some on electricity, it opens door to more energy deployment. There can be a biggish difference on end- of-straight speed and a noticeable difference on lap time from a small change in fuel consumption.
Shell have introduced three performance steps so far and there are more to come.
Total introduced one in Spain helping red Bull emerge as main challengers to Merc
Merceds whilst it has an advantage is holding fire on upgrades until it has something with a big gain.
Horner convinced battle between fuel suppliers will play a big part in the competitive order for the rest of the season.
Key for fuel suppliers is to deliver maximum energy within the 100kg limit and the 100kg/h flow rate. This is complicated by the demands of the direct injection turbo that rev to a max of 15, 000rpm
Current power units are particularly susceptible to detonation. An engine/ fuel combo that can run close to its limits without knocking will deliver big performance gains. Shell man said lot of work is being done on balancing out the octane levels to prevent knocking with the need to deliver max power. Higher the octane level, less chance of detonation but increasing the octane too much makes the fuel less powerful. Balancing octane, anti knock and performance is not new to the industry but it is new to F1
Another important thing is how the fuel reacts chemically when sprayed directly into the chamber.. Petronas man said...we know have to inject the fuel into the compressed air like a Diesel engine, so quality of combustion is governed by atomisation of the fuel. Small droplets are important. Surface tension of fuel has to be lowered to get max atomisation. This gives good combustion and helps get max out of the fuel
Phew! That's it. I don't understand it all. Especially the knocking part. But I get that petrol is important now like never before.
( don't currently have a subscription) and there was an article on ' Fuel is the new battleground' by Johnathon Noble...
- By hass25