peewon wrote: ↑Sat Nov 27, 2021 1:29 pm
diffuser wrote: ↑Sat Nov 27, 2021 2:19 am
Remember, they've been working on the new PU for 3 years, they just haven't been able to use it cause of the change of architecture not fitting the old frame. So it isn't one change, it many iterations over 3 years. 35 HP over 3 years isn't that big a jump. It's the reliability I'm concerned with. Hopefully they've been running a mule.
Taffin ruled out the split turbo in 2017 and I know the pre-pandemic plan was to introduce it before this year. I only know for certain it was on the dyno when Fernando visited Viry in Sept. last year. If there was news about them working on it before that, then Ive completely missed it. So not really sure about the timeline.
It would've been nice to go into 2022 with a real-world tested PU. They could then focus entirely on the what I presume will be constantly evolving aero philosophies as teams start to copy each other's homework. Also, Merc just seemingly keeps eking out 10-15 HP every update, even though they're pushing 55%(?) efficiency, which cant be easy.
Two scenarios that could derail this project for Fernando's timeline are if the PU gets stuck in a reliability-performance feedback loop akin to the early days of McHonda or some completely sub optimal design philosophy for the new aero rules which becomes hard to back track from quickly as everything is designed around it.
RIght, but they didn't just put it on the Dyno, they had to design it. We don't know if that was the first iteration. It's not like the budget for the PU disappeared or they had those people doing nothing. You have to presume they were working on something if whatever they did didn't hit the track in an official capacity. Typically you'll have 2 engineering teams 1 for new R&D and the other Maintaining, at least in Computers. This PU seems to have been in Maintaining's hand since at least 2019.
I don't expect the Honda nightmare scenario, Honda was rushed into F1. They had no experience building this type of PU and got the sizing wrong. Once they figured out what they needed, they nailed it pretty quickly(3ird iteration). Alpine, at this point, have just too much experience with the PU to run into sizing issues of the turbo and MGU-H etc. The PU is the same right. just the placement of the turbo and MGU-H is different. You're new design takes advantage of the new placements of the turbo and MGU-H. As far as the efficiency, that's just ICE heads, combustion chambers, piston, intake and fuel changes. The software side isn't gonna change alot from where it is now. Worst case Scenario, they could have a year, PU wise, as bad as Honda's last year with McLaren. They had all kind of issues with the spindle connecting the Turbo and the MGU-H. Pretty sure I remember Renault had hired some Merc PU engineers at one point. So hopefully they got some good input on what you need to avoid those issues.
I'm expecting a year a little worse that Merc's PU issues this year. They are allowed reliability updates.