The myth of the engine freeze?

Hey,

I posted the following table from the 2014 technical regulations in another thread in answer to a question, but studying it more made me think it really deserves its own. I'm sure it'll spur much debate..... My comments to follow, but for now:
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Did this comment by Lauda trigger this thread:

"The same with Ferrari -- another sh*t car. Next year will be different because they can change half the engine."

 

While I'm not sure exactly what "weighting" means (anyone?), seems that for 2015 only the following is frozen:

- Cylinder bore spacing, deck height, bank stagger
- Crank throw, main bearing journal diameter, rod bearing journal diameter
- Air valve system, including compressor, air pressure regulation devices.

Again, its not clear to me (I'll go back & read some more!) if even these are "frozen" this season.... We do know they have to submit a unit to the FIA for homologation, but the way I read it, beyond that pretty fundamental stuff above they remain "free" everywhere else.

Things start to get tightened down in 2016, but if I'm reading it right they can still mess with some pretty significant stuff for a few years yet.....

Cheers,
Ian

 

It well could have, but no!

And it seems to me they can change a lot more "half the engine".....

Cheers,
Ian

 

If anyone's struggling to read it (sorry) the "real thing" is page 88 of the technical regs, available here:

Federation Internationale de l'Automobile

The "interesting" part (to me anyway ) is the table at the bottom - The last line of which:

"% PU being frozen";
2015; 8%
2016; 23%
2017; 23%

So, for 2015, 92% of the PU is "free" (at least within the scope of the rest of the regs of course.)

Not exactly what we've believed it seems......

Cheers,
Ian

 

Thanks Ian.

The engines may or may not be frozen but the rules aren't.

 

It's been known for a long time that the engine freeze was coming in stages.

Engine freezes = worst thing ever to happen in F1. Even worse than no testing.

 

so looking at this...we might have these stupid noises till 2020???

 

Yes. We will probably have these engines for the next 10 years and as lame as they are I shudder to think what their replacement will be...

Sad thing is, if the fuel flow limit was abolished they could be amazing.

 

Bernie better hurry up with buying out CVC then. Realistically speaking we'll have them for 3-4 more years then.

 

Even if he does, we still have the FIA and "Mr. Green" Todt to contend with. I won't hold my breath on real engines coming back anytime soon

 

Oh dear.

 

True, but my point is that they're currently, and indeed for a few years yet, a *long* way from frozen.

Until studying the regs I, and I'm sure many others, didn't realize just how much they could still change pretty much everything.

Cheers,
Ian

 

I don't get the in-season engine freeze either. The manufacturers are still working away at developments. All this regulation does is prevent them from rolling out upgrades, and maintain the kind of disparity we're stuck with right now. If they'd like to improve the show best not to tie the hands of Red Bull and Ferrari with this type of engine freeze, and allow Mercedes to run away with the title.

 

That's exactly my point here - studying the regs tells us that for right now at least they can indeed roll out upgrades at will. OK, some very basic configuration stuff (bank angle, stagger and journal sizes etc) are fixed, but beyond that they can do what they want.

I see nothing that would stop Renault or Ferrari switching to the much heralded 'split turbo' for example.

Cheers,
Ian

 

Not during the season they can't, from what I understand. The engines are homologated at the start of the season and cannot be changed till the offseason.

That's the problem with F1 now. Show up with a poor aero package or a shoddy engine and you are screwed till next year thanks to the lack of testing and the engine freeze. Which gives us a bunch of boring championship landslides like 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014. It sucks.

 

Instead of allowing mid season improvements when the competition gets lopsided they capriciously enforce existing "rules".
FRIC ferinstance.