Mercedes F1 power units

[Walford]

Are all the Mercedes F1 power units making the same HP, will some tracks suit the customer teams, and allow them to beat the works cars

[revrange]

Walford said:

Are all the Mercedes F1 power units making the same HP, will some tracks suit the customer teams, and allow them to beat the works cars

Same HP isn't the correct question, which there may be a difference.

Are they the same spec is the question, answer yes. however the works team runs works fuel and lubricates from petornas, i am not sure if williams/lotus/FI use the same spec, so performance difference there.

The key difference is in software, how you control the car under braking for recharge etc. I would imagine Mercedes will offer much more interesting maps to the works team than the customers.Also how development tokens are spent will be interesting between works and customer. Works may get new developments way before customers

[VladD]

revrange said:

I would imagine Mercedes will offer much more interesting maps to the works team than the customers.

I believe that this was one of Ron's gripes and why he was pleased to be switching to Honda.

[Krikkit]

revrange said:

Same HP isn't the correct question, which there may be a difference.

Are they the same spec is the question, answer yes. however the works team runs works fuel and lubricates from petornas, i am not sure if williams/lotus/FI use the same spec, so performance difference there.

IIRC they are all using the same lubricants and fuel, McLaren had to have revisions to their engine thanks to using Mobil1 oils etc.

[stevesingo]

revrange said:

Works may get new developments way before customers

This is an interesting one.

Let's say Mercedes HPP have a upgrade ready to go, this can only be applied to an unused PU. So, if we are 5 races in and the Mercedes cars have both come to the end of the life (km) of their respectice PU's, that would be a good time to introduce an upgrade (Ver 2). The other Merc engine customers may have already rotated a PU (or parts there of) and therefore the the customer can either accept the upgrades and use a new PU (Ver 2), but have to come back to the old spec (Ver 1) later in the season when they run out of kms on the Ver 2 unit.

Logically, I expect 4 upgrades during the season and that will be when the Merc works cars are due a PU change.

If the customers rotate too many PUs too early, they may not even see subsequent PU upgrades as they don't have any unused PUs left.

[Walford]

revrange said:

Walford said:

Are all the Mercedes F1 power units making the same HP, will some tracks suit the customer teams, and allow them to beat the works cars

Same HP isn't the correct question, which there may be a difference.

Are they the same spec is the question, answer yes. however the works team runs works fuel and lubricates from petornas, i am not sure if williams/lotus/FI use the same spec, so performance difference there.

The key difference is in software, how you control the car under braking for recharge etc. I would imagine Mercedes will offer much more interesting maps to the works team than the customers.Also how development tokens are spent will be interesting between works and customer. Works may get new developments way before customers

Sorry, you lost me here

[Inertiatic]

Walford said:

Are all the Mercedes F1 power units making the same HP, will some tracks suit the customer teams, and allow them to beat the works cars

Power depends on how its mapped and setup which is up to the teams.

Merc have the best chassis - so unless the others catch them up in this department...