Renault - new spec engine in hope to beat Ferrari - SPOILER

Found this quite interesting - they are desperate to beat Ferrari!

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Renault set for engine boost for China

World champions Renault could introduce a new specification engine at this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix in order to boost their chances of beating rivals Ferrari.

The French squad are currently evaluating two engine specifications, one of them a more radical version, that could be used in the Shanghai race and the following week in the Japanese Grand Prix.

"For China, we will be preparing and transporting two slightly different engine specifications, one of which is a small gain over Monza, and the other a larger gain," said Renault's engine guru Rob White.

"Between now and Thursday, the dynos in Viry will be working day and night on track simulations.

"The data gathered will be analysed, to orientate our choice of engine for the race."

For the first time this season, Renault lost the lead in the constructors' championship after a disappointing Italian Grand Prix, which was won by Ferrari's Michael Schumacher.

The Italian squad are now three points ahead of Renault with just three races remaining.

Schumacher is only two points behind Fernando Alonso in the drivers' standings, after the Spanish driver retired with a broken engine from the Monza race.

White said the team had found the cause of the failure and is confident it will not happen again.

"We have found the exact cause," White added. "For obvious reasons of technical confidentiality, we do not wish to go into details, but it was a sudden failure in the bottom end of the engine. Our analysis of that engine, and our efforts to reproduce the failure, have allowed us to fully understand the problem.

"It is always presumptuous to say that we are 100% confident there will be no problems - nothing in this business is ever 100% certain. The pressure is on for both us and Ferrari, as any reliability problems at this stage of the season would be catastrophic.

"We know that we have been rigorous in our analysis, our testing and our risk management in finding the appropriate solution to the failure in Monza. We will not race a solution that we do not have full confidence in."

Alonso was penalised in Monza qualifying, which meant he had to charge back from the middle of the field on race day. His engine expired when he was running in third.

White has denied suggestions that the engine failed because Alonso had to push harder than usual.

"No. Had Fernando been lying first or last, the engine would have failed at about the same point of the race. Fernando's use of the engine was completely within a normal duty cycle throughout the weekend."


Carol

 

well, i know that 2 engines failed at Jerez during testing...when..last week?

 

Interesting. We will see where the chips fall and how they perform in testing and qualy.

 

I would rather race and lose the title than blow up trying to get a super power booster mod going in the last weeks of the season.

 

I am gonna laugh when this "super power boost" just makes the engine blow faster.

 

So again we learn that Alonso was talking rubbish. The more he opens his mouth, and the more he brake-tests backmarkers during practice, the less I like him. The penalty at Monza was rubbish, but his own team says it made no difference. Good. I want the championship decided on merit. Hard to say at this point whether that's even possible, with all the FIA meddling. This wing, that mass damper, et cetera, ad absurdum.

WWF1

That's what Max has created. Can you tell I'm disgusted?

 

You have to remember though that the engine specs will be "SET" at the end of the season. So you're basically stuck with what you're racing with at the last race. The result of this is that teams will make changes to the engines to get as much power out of them as possible before that final race. For teams like Honda, Toyota, and BMW they can afford to blow some engines while trying to get that extra power and not really worry about it. They then can work on reliability during the off-season. Granted Toyota and BMW are close in the constructors but I'd think power for next season is more important to both.

Ferrari and Renault on the other hand are in a bit of a quandary. Both need to have their engine architecture finalized for max power for next year but they need reliability NOW. I'd say Ferrari have the upper hand in they seem to be making more power than the Renault so they have a bit of a cushion. Renault has to up the anti. Not only is this season at stake but their competitiveness next season is as well. By having to move to new tires next season they'll be relying on engine power more than ever to even things up.

 

thats next "seasons" plural. Thank you, Max.

 

How does that work? What if a manufacturer makes a powerful but unreliable engine before the freeze, are they then allowed to work on to make it reliable? I'd think they aren't allowed to work on it at all. Wouldn't it be convenient to say: O, we worked on the engine to make it more reliable and as a side effect we also found some extra HP well whada ya know? To me an engine freeze sounds like something that demands reliability above horsepower, not the other way around.

Best, Peter

 

Renault and Alonso are unethical and will continue to bark like dogs!

 

That's a very good question Peter. This is from the F1 web site:

So, they have to have the engine by the Japanese GP and then yes, they can retune it but the details of what they plan to do to it must be submitted to the FIA by December 15th. They then have up until March 1, 2007 to carry out those plans. But the over all architecture of the engine must be finalized by the Japanese GP.

In short if you're a team that's not in the championship race you tell your engine builders to design the post powerful engine they can think of within the engine formula and then make it as fast as you can. Make it as reliable as you can under that short time period but don't worry about it too much because you'll have some time to submit some minute changes in order to get some reliability out of it and then some more time to make those changes work. Oh, and by the way whatever you come up with we're stuck with so you'd better not overstretch.

In other words I'd bet we're going to see some engines go out in style this weekend and in Japan, spitting oil and bits all over the track, as teams start to really push the power envelope. For many teams these two races will be competitive test sessions as much as straight out race.

 

I agree.

Ferrari and Renault will have to play it safe to guard their chances at the title, but everybody else can bring on whatever they want.

Interesting choice for Ferrari and Renault: Use a conservative engine to win the title and forego some chances for 07 or vice versa.

 

This has just proven how dumb the rules are imo. It's becoming more a game of chess than just bring what you got and race it as hard as you can.

 

True.

The whole 2 races/engine deal this year and the freeze on engine development are prime examples of Mad Max' lunacy.

 

Ferrari and Renault can run the high power engines in the second cars and still comply with the rules.....

So watch Massa and Fisi closely.

 

I am curious about that too. How can that work?

What about new engine manufacturers entering F1? They won't have raced the previous year, so they can bring anything they like?

Imagine AUDI, Peugeot or Subaru (?), doing a deal with a team like Spyker for 2007. They won't have raced all this year, and certainly not in China/Japan; does that mean they can 'develop' until the first GP next year?

Does that mean that if your Japan 2006 engine design is a no-hopper, you are stuck with it for the whole next season?

Looks like a stupid idea to me.

 

to be honest, i'm getting a bit confused over this whole engine freeze crap. from what i know, they area allowed to work on the engine and make it more reliable. is this t/out the '07 season?

 

Renault will not be using the new engine in China.

 

Yes ... An article on Itv-f1.com - says they will use a slightly older specification engine than the one they used at China - it is a bit slower but more reliable. They ran into issues with the latest spec engine during a test at Jerez.

Hopefully Michael can win here - this seems to be a bogie track for him over the last 2 years.

 

My understanding of the rule is that it will need to last at least two races in the '06 season, which means the latest version of any engine, if it is to be submitted to FIA for the '07 season will have to make its debute by Japan and last through Brazil. This will stand throughout the '07 and '08 seasons.

 

thanx Anthony.

 

No hope only determination and will to succeed!