Mercedes Power cars are dominating

[jamsbong]

The Benz power cars are really fast! So fast that even the low budget Force India is able to make great impression on track and be faster than Ferrari.

I speculate that the 18000RPM rev limit made a significant difference in the way all the engines performed. Renault, Ferrari, Toyota just don't have the grunt at the slightly low rev compared to the Merc.

Impressive, I bet there will be protest later on... hehehe..

I wonder if the other engines can find a way around this?

[Jersey Tom]

The Benz power cars are really fast! So fast that even the low budget Force India is able to make great impression on track and be faster than Ferrari.

I speculate that the 18000RPM rev limit made a significant difference in the way all the engines performed. Renault, Ferrari, Toyota just don't have the grunt at the slightly low rev compared to the Merc.

Impressive, I bet there will be protest later on... hehehe..

I wonder if the other engines can find a way around this?

FI's pace is not from engine.

[Super racing]

Some of it is, but not merely about the power the engine is producing but the fact that is has lower cooling requirements and thus less of an aero penalty.

[n smikle]

I don't think cooling is the major difference between the areodynamics now though.. The radiators are pretty huge.. slanted sidways even.. On the hot tracks I notice they didn't even open up the side pod holes any bigger and on the cool tracks they didn't make them smaller. I have only seen them open up the back parts of the engine cover. So i say the difference in cooling requirements amongst the engines but not significant enough to cause a wide variation in the side pod shape.

It must be something else about the engine...

[xpensive]

Apart from reported to be more powerful than the others, what is really interesting is if the Mercedes-engine requires less cooling, which the smaller air-intakes of the cars suggests.

What does it mean, is the Mercedes engine more fuel efficient or is it spewing out more energy through the exhaust then the others? If it's in the cooling system itself, they would probably not give that technology away to the customer teams, would they?

[timbo]

Maybe engine and auxillarities are spec'd to work at higher temperatures?

[xpensive]

Perhaps that is the most plausible xplanation timbo, Mercedes engine running hotter, that way making the cooling system more efficient?

[timbo]

Mercedes engine running hotter, that way making the cooling system more efficient?

Hmm, depends on how you define efficient))
But if they manage to run engine hotter they certainly would need much less flow thru radiators. That thermal insulation they have around engine can be a hint on this (or not ).

[xpensive]

Isn't convection of energy between radiators and the passing air-stream proportional to difference in temperature?

[timbo]

Isn't convection of energy between radiators and the passing air-stream proportional to difference in temperature?

Well, of course. I learned that lesson hard when tried to cool thermostat tank without forced cooling (5 liters) from 25oC to below 20oC. It was a looong wait)))

Somehow I though of cooling system efficiency in F1 car in terms of drag it creates given same cooling requirements.
But yes, running a hotter engine with same heat output not only permits to dissipate less heat, but makes dissipation easier.

[myurr]

Isn't convection of energy between radiators and the passing air-stream proportional to difference in temperature?

Well, of course. I learned that lesson hard when tried to cool thermostat tank without forced cooling (5 liters) from 25oC to below 20oC. It was a looong wait)))

Somehow I though of cooling system efficiency in F1 car in terms of drag it creates given same cooling requirements.
But yes, running a hotter engine with same heat output not only permits to dissipate less heat, but makes dissipation easier.

I wonder if the engines fuel efficiency is also related to cooling - my knowledge is patchy at best but I believe that evaporation of fuel in the cylinders contributes to their cooling. Therefore running a richer mix can help cool the engine. If the merc can run hotter could they then also run leaner, even if just a few percent then it would help explain their greater fuel efficiency.

[tarzoon]

sorry if the questions seems silly (don't know much about mechanics), but if an engine has a better power curve, will it help reducing the stress of internal parts, hence reduce heating?

How about the lubricant? how much does it help reducing or distributing heat?

[Callum]

Or maybe it's just a co-incidence, i'm sure a decent engine helps but remember how bad McLaren were until they sorted out their bad aero/weight distribution..

[n smikle]

I won't buy into the cooling thing though so blindly though.. I don't see any relation for the engine cooling and the inlet size this year.. they said the Ferrari and Renault were hot heads but look at the inlets they are the tiniest!

If any thing the Benz has one of the biggest inlets. So i don't buy the tiny radiator Cool engine thing as i said before.. That Engine got something special on the INSIDE!! Some alien technology in the metals or lubricant! The Benz might even be running at higher flame temperatures, lower friction parts,

[BreezyRacer]

I think the Merc engine program really picked up in Velencia. Since then they have been on a tear. One of the things that exaggerate this the tightness of the grids. I cannot remember the F1 grids being tighter than they are today. A tenth of a second on a 90 second lap makes a damn big difference these days.

I would also agree that Force India's success is not entirely due to the Merc engine but I do think back to last season when Torro Rosso got hot at the end of the season running the re-speced Ferrari motor while sister team Red Bull faded with the Renault motor.

I think there's a lot more changes going on in the motor department than anyone lets on. These upcoming last few races don't seem to be as motor dependent so we might have a bit of equalizing amongst the field and if that actually happens I predict the fields will get even tighter.