2026 Power Unit Usage
2026 Power Unit Usage
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Discussion

Megaflow

Original Poster:

11,372 posts

252 months

Thursday 4th June
quotequote all
I could ask this question in the Monaco thread, but I am not sure I can handle the inevitable argument that will descend into after the race, so I'll ask it here.

Does anyone know where the power unit usage charts are published and have any of the Mercedes runners fitted new ICE for this weekend to meet the new combustion ratio measurement?

I strongly suspect they are running older engines, power is not important here, and as much as the rest of the PU manufacturers made of the issue, I suspect it is also a non issue.


BrettMRC

5,908 posts

187 months

Craigyp79

628 posts

210 months

Thursday 4th June
quotequote all
That makes interesting reading, Hadjar being used as a development driver? It's what Red Bull usually do!

PhilAsia

7,490 posts

102 months

Thursday 4th June
quotequote all
Craigyp79 said:
That makes interesting reading, Hadjar being used as a development driver development mule? It's what Red Bull usually do!
FTFY

Craigyp79

628 posts

210 months

Thursday 4th June
quotequote all
PhilAsia said:
FTFY
Indeed!

Megaflow

Original Poster:

11,372 posts

252 months

Thursday 4th June
quotequote all
BrettMRC said:
Thank you.

In my head it said when drivers changing PU’s, but I can’t see that now I look.

BrettMRC

5,908 posts

187 months

Thursday 4th June
quotequote all
Megaflow said:
BrettMRC said:
Thank you.

In my head it said when drivers changing PU s, but I can t see that now I look.
I think that is sometimes in the notes and releases ahead of a GP. smile (..and probably elsewhere in the FIA/F1 pages - I found that site on Google earlier)

Big Nanas

4,196 posts

111 months

Friday 5th June
quotequote all
Here's this weekends official FIA doc on the matter.


Megaflow

Original Poster:

11,372 posts

252 months

Friday 5th June
quotequote all
Big Nanas said:
Here's this weekends official FIA doc on the matter.

That’s what I was after! That would appear to suggest the McLaren’s and Mercedes have not changed the ICE.

hehe


Sandpit Steve

14,555 posts

101 months

Saturday 6th June
quotequote all
It’s published by the Technical Delegate before each event, on the official FIA event documents page.

https://www.fia.com/documents/championships/fia-fo...
That link is permenant, and will always show the latest event.

Here’s this weekend’s version, Doc 14.

https://www.fia.com/system/files/decision-document...

thegreenhell

23,218 posts

246 months

Sunday 7th June
quotequote all
Now it's been announced by the FIA that Red Bull has the benchmark engine in the current field, Mercedes are now eligible for one homologated engine upgrade this season, and all other manufacturers get two upgrades, all with extra cost cap and bench testing allowances. Red Bull get none, haha.

Megaflow

Original Poster:

11,372 posts

252 months

Monday 8th June
quotequote all
thegreenhell said:
Now it's been announced by the FIA that Red Bull has the benchmark engine in the current field, Mercedes are now eligible for one homologated engine upgrade this season, and all other manufacturers get two upgrades, all with extra cost cap and bench testing allowances. Red Bull get none, haha.
It's almost a shame Horny is not still around, I'd love to see the meltdown he would have over that.

hehe

TheDeuce

33,319 posts

93 months

Tuesday 9th June
quotequote all
Megaflow said:
thegreenhell said:
Now it's been announced by the FIA that Red Bull has the benchmark engine in the current field, Mercedes are now eligible for one homologated engine upgrade this season, and all other manufacturers get two upgrades, all with extra cost cap and bench testing allowances. Red Bull get none, haha.
It's almost a shame Horny is not still around, I'd love to see the meltdown he would have over that.

hehe
The funny thing is, it's not the PU that is judged to be best, it's solely the ICE component. So now Merc get to improve their ICE inspite of the fact that their PU (ICE + Electric) as an overall entity is already almost certainly the class leader.

Ah well, another part of these new regs that seems a bit of a mess.


kambites

71,233 posts

248 months

Tuesday 9th June
quotequote all
TheDeuce said:
The funny thing is, it's not the PU that is judged to be best, it's solely the ICE component. So now Merc get to improve their ICE inspite of the fact that their PU (ICE + Electric) as an overall entity is already almost certainly the class leader.
I think that's slightly misleading. The metric is peak power of the ICE; peak power of the combined system would presumably exactly mirror peak power of the ICE because the electrical side has a specific power limit that all the teams will reach, because there's no reason not to.

So the problem isn't really that the test is "only of the ICE component", the problem is that it's a test of peak power which is not wholly indicative of actual power unit effectiveness.


I guess the other point is that (as far as I know) the deployment algorithms are not homologated so the teams are free to change them as they see fit anyway?

Edited by kambites on Tuesday 9th June 08:53

TheDeuce

33,319 posts

93 months

Tuesday 9th June
quotequote all
kambites said:
TheDeuce said:
The funny thing is, it's not the PU that is judged to be best, it's solely the ICE component. So now Merc get to improve their ICE inspite of the fact that their PU (ICE + Electric) as an overall entity is already almost certainly the class leader.
I think that's slightly misleading. The metric is peak power of the ICE; peak power of the combined system would presumably exactly mirror peak power of the ICE because the electrical side has a specific power limit that all the teams will reach, because there's no reason not to.

So the problem isn't really that the test is "only of the ICE component", the problem is that it's a test of peak power which is not wholly indicative of actual power unit effectiveness.


I guess the other point is that (as far as I know) the deployment algorithms are not homologated so the teams are free to change them as they see fit anyway?

Edited by kambites on Tuesday 9th June 08:53
It's not that simple. It's about deployable power per lap minus the time taken to harvest to the power in the first place. The Merc system seems overall more efficient at harvesting so less time is lost per lap by doing so.

Probably lots of other little efficiencies accriss their system that adds up to the most competitive end result.

RBR will be highly irritated that Merc of all teams now get a chance develop further power.

kambites

71,233 posts

248 months

Tuesday 9th June
quotequote all
TheDeuce said:
It's not that simple. It's about deployable power per lap minus the time taken to harvest to the power in the first place. The Merc system seems overall more efficient at harvesting so less time is lost per lap by doing so.
Yes exactly, that was my whole point! The fact that they are measuring ICE peak power is a problem not because they're only measuring the ICE component, but because they're measuring peak power which is far form the be-all and end-all of these power-trains.

Redbull have no real right to be annoyed. They signed up to the rules just like everyone else! In fact you could perhaps argue that Redbull Powertrains made a fundamental strategic blunder by focusing on the ICE (which was always going to be the basis for the extra testing allowance) over the electrical side.

Edited by kambites on Tuesday 9th June 12:18

TheDeuce

33,319 posts

93 months

Tuesday 9th June
quotequote all
kambites said:
TheDeuce said:
It's not that simple. It's about deployable power per lap minus the time taken to harvest to the power in the first place. The Merc system seems overall more efficient at harvesting so less time is lost per lap by doing so.
Yes exactly, that was my whole point! The fact that they are measuring ICE peak power is a problem not because they're only measuring the ICE component, but because they're measuring peak power which is far form the be-all and end-all of these power-trains.

Redbull have no right to be annoyed. They signed up to the rules just like everyone else!

Edited by kambites on Tuesday 9th June 12:16
Can't argue with that!

Although I'm sure they're annoyed anyway...

kambites

71,233 posts

248 months

Tuesday 9th June
quotequote all
TheDeuce said:
Although I'm sure they're annoyed anyway...
At least with Horner gone they'll probably be quietly annoyed rather than loudly annoyed. biggrin

ajprice

32,992 posts

223 months

Yesterday (09:01)
quotequote all
Mercedes may take new engines and grid penalties at Monza with the ADUO spec update. https://racingnews365.com/mercedes-facing-f1-penal...

Toto wants to talk about it with Antonelli senior though, as it's their Italian driver in the Italian race.

Megaflow

Original Poster:

11,372 posts

252 months

Yesterday (09:30)
quotequote all
ajprice said:
Mercedes may take new engines and grid penalties at Monza with the ADUO spec update. https://racingnews365.com/mercedes-facing-f1-penal...

Toto wants to talk about it with Antonelli senior though, as it's their Italian driver in the Italian race.
I thought Mercedes weren't looking to introduce an upgrade, but that article seems to suggest they might run out of engines so why not.

Going back to the original point of the thread, I think it is safe to say at this point that the compression ratio rule change did not hurt Mercedes at all.