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The return to an older spec of oil probably has as much to do with engine lifespan as anything power related.
Any gains from "oil burning" are in the low single digits of power.

Gains from fuel and overall ICE efficiency have always been more than any gains from ze oil.

The way I interpret it, Ferrari made up ground over the winter, and with the change in oil burning are now definitely, but only slightly, ahead of Mercedes. AMuS talks about Ferrari being about 1.5km/h ahead in China (and ahead in three of four speed traps).

But PU performance is directly related to how much aero a car has put on no? So 1.5 km/hr doesn't seem like much at all. It just seems to me that Ferrari aero >> Merc aero.

digitalrurouni wrote: ↑

17 Apr 2018, 15:34

But PU performance is directly related to how much aero a car has put on no? So 1.5 km/hr doesn't seem like much at all. It just seems to me that Ferrari aero >> Merc aero.

It's very very very difficult to make a statement like that without having all the data needed.
It could be aero, or it could be engine, or it could be both.
But the total package is what matters.

I'm not convinced the Ferrari engine makes more power, I think Merc dropped the ball with this years car more than anything. Their engine is still top of the pile.

digitalrurouni wrote: ↑

17 Apr 2018, 15:34

But PU performance is directly related to how much aero a car has put on no? So 1.5 km/hr doesn't seem like much at all. It just seems to me that Ferrari aero >> Merc aero.

It could be, but even back in pre-season testing you could see that all the Ferrari engined cars were pulling on the others as soon as they got out of being traction limited about halfway down the straight - it wasn't just a case of less drag and a bit more top end at the end, they're outaccelerating the Mercs well before the speedtraps.

Wait until September...

I noticed it's all hands on deck right now at Mercedes.

Over entire season Mercedes could still have solid advantage over Ferrari due to reliability. That's been the biggest Merc advantage since beginning of the 1.6L V6 era. If Ferrari are juggling 5-place grid penalties during most of the later races then they'll never beat Merc.

Hope it's not a "reliability" driver's championship but it's likely to turn out that way.

PhillipM wrote: ↑

17 Apr 2018, 17:31

digitalrurouni wrote: ↑

17 Apr 2018, 15:34

But PU performance is directly related to how much aero a car has put on no? So 1.5 km/hr doesn't seem like much at all. It just seems to me that Ferrari aero >> Merc aero.

It could be, but even back in pre-season testing you could see that all the Ferrari engined cars were pulling on the others as soon as they got out of being traction limited about halfway down the straight - it wasn't just a case of less drag and a bit more top end at the end, they're outaccelerating the Mercs well before the speedtraps.

That is a good point.

I also echo another poster's sentiments about hoping this does not become a reliability championship. I also don't understand the changing of the fuel amount limit for cars. It's not like they would use ALL the fuel allowed anyway. They will still crunch the numbers and stick to using the least amount of fuel to finish first. I think rather they should be removing the number of PUs per season restriction. Bring it back to 1 per race weekend so the drivers can abuse the snot out of them and actually attempt something instead of just "please drive to this time delta" laps.

bill shoe wrote: ↑

18 Apr 2018, 03:21

Over entire season Mercedes could still have solid advantage over Ferrari due to reliability. That's been the biggest Merc advantage since beginning of the 1.6L V6 era. If Ferrari are juggling 5-place grid penalties during most of the later races then they'll never beat Merc.

Hope it's not a "reliability" driver's championship but it's likely to turn out that way.

But the Merc has had the advantage on the Ferrari so far, and I assume the Ferrari has had to run 'closer to the edge' than the Merc, which may just have given Merc a slight + and Ferrari a slight - in reliability.
Has that now changed and will Merc have to whip the horses harder while Ferrari do not?

Considering how weak the Mercedes customer teams are this year, it looks like the MB engine lost its advantage!

Mercedes 2017-2018 packaging comparison (F1i.com):

Maybe it is their more conventional mgu-compressor-turbine setup, which can unlock more power in the end and the split turbo, while good in the beginning, has a limit which has been reached now.

They probably lost some performance going from 1.2l of oil to 0.6l as well as more compact exhaust manifolds, that Ferrari and Renault have been running for 2 years.