Mercedes Power Unit Hardware & Software

[Jolle]

There's 16 settings on the STRAT rotary:
http://wescrutinize.com/wp-content/uplo ... 721504.jpg

These ones are more or less confirmed:
start 1 - inlap/cooldown
strat 2 - Q2, Q3 only.
strat 3- ...? race settings
In 2014 when rosberg cut hamilton's wheel in spa, hamilton was advised strat postition 12 while he limped in the pits.

Yes. Some of the settings a re unused. of the race modes we know about seven. Strat seven is a " joker" mode that is changed to pretty much anything depending on what is planned for a particular race. Sometimes the teams are not told what it does and it is barred unyil permission is given. Williams thought it ended at strat 6 for Monza unyil they requested more power for Massa. They were then given instruction to turn to strat seven. Stronger than the setting they had for dry qualifying. (qualli was wet). They were pleasantly surprised the power they had! But it is a setting that changes race to race.

I think a similar scneario happened in 2015 spa gp with grosjean and lotus. He was told by engineer to go after Vettel and switch to strat 7.

Don't forget durability has a lot to do with it. Making a PU last 5 races costs a lot of HP. If a team would be allowed to make their own decisions on which strat setting then a team like Williams or Force India could choose to run an PU for just one race, worth easily 50HP more. Teams like Williams and Force India would run up costs exponentially.

[hurril]

Yes. Some of the settings a re unused. of the race modes we know about seven. Strat seven is a " joker" mode that is changed to pretty much anything depending on what is planned for a particular race. Sometimes the teams are not told what it does and it is barred unyil permission is given. Williams thought it ended at strat 6 for Monza unyil they requested more power for Massa. They were then given instruction to turn to strat seven. Stronger than the setting they had for dry qualifying. (qualli was wet). They were pleasantly surprised the power they had! But it is a setting that changes race to race.

I think a similar scneario happened in 2015 spa gp with grosjean and lotus. He was told by engineer to go after Vettel and switch to strat 7.

Don't forget durability has a lot to do with it. Making a PU last 5 races costs a lot of HP. If a team would be allowed to make their own decisions on which strat setting then a team like Williams or Force India could choose to run an PU for just one race, worth easily 50HP more. Teams like Williams and Force India would run up costs exponentially.

If I had the ability to do so - if it were possible, I would construct high-power/ lower-durability engines and lower-power/ high-durability ones. Then run the high-powered ones on tracks where that makes the most sense from a tactical standpoint. So the HP-engines would be utilized with a lower frequency.

I'm sure they already do something akin to this, only, they save the new engines and run the older ones more.

[Zynerji]

I don't think it's acceptable from a competition standpoint to have a known handicap, 2 tier system. That's just paying to win all over while holding others behind.

[Webber2011]

If this "Strat 7" is programmed in, what's to stop a team like Williams using it whenever they want ?

Say they are 4th and closing in on a podium, why wouldn't they ?

[hurril]

If this "Strat 7" is programmed in, what's to stop a team like Williams using it whenever they want ?

Say they are 4th and closing in on a podium, why wouldn't they ?

Probably contractual obligations. I also think that the ECU is only ever loaded with maps relevant to the current outing or track.

[Webber2011]

If this "Strat 7" is programmed in, what's to stop a team like Williams using it whenever they want ?

Say they are 4th and closing in on a podium, why wouldn't they ?

Probably contractual obligations. I also think that the ECU is only ever loaded with maps relevant to the current outing or track.

Yeah mate, I understand the maps for different tracks, or even sessions, but surely it's against the sporting regs to give your engine to a customer and know they have less power ?
I thought Merc' had promised somewhere a while back that they gave everyone exactly what they had ?
Can't remember where I read it though cause it was a while ago

If it's a contractual thing then that's even worse.
Every Merc' customer must have signed on the dotted line and accepted the fact that they won't get the proper full power from the PU

Williams really are being bent over and shafted if that's the case

I find that astounding, but also a reflection on the down hill slide they have been in for years

Beggars can't be choosers

[lio007]

If this "Strat 7" is programmed in, what's to stop a team like Williams using it whenever they want ?

Say they are 4th and closing in on a podium, why wouldn't they ?

Probably contractual obligations. I also think that the ECU is only ever loaded with maps relevant to the current outing or track.

Yeah mate, I understand the maps for different tracks, or even sessions, but surely it's against the sporting regs to give your engine to a customer and know they have less power ?
I thought Merc' had promised somewhere a while back that they gave everyone exactly what they had ?
Can't remember where I read it though cause it was a while ago

If it's a contractual thing then that's even worse.
Every Merc' customer must have signed on the dotted line and accepted the fact that they won't get the proper full power from the PU

Williams really are being bent over and shafted if that's the case

I find that astounding, but also a reflection on the down hill slide they have been in for years

Beggars can't be choosers

I don't know if eingine maps are included as well in the regulations. They need to give them the same hardware, that's a given.
But I can remember a report this year, that a Merc engineer gave Force India (aaccidentally) the engine maps from the works team during free practice and FI said there's been a reasonable difference!

[Just_a_fan]

Williams can always build their own engine if they don't like it. That's the point. No one is making them use Mercedes's engine.

[Zynerji]

Williams can always build their own engine if they don't like it. That's the point. No one is making them use Mercedes's engine.

I dislike this entire premise.

Eat my scraps or starve to death.

How long would F1 survive if all customer teams simply said "no", we wont buy your de-tuned engines any more?

I'd like to see what Chase Carey would do with a strike that large, removing 5 teams from the grid overnight (forgot that STR technically now is a factory team).

[Just_a_fan]

The small teams could get together and fund an alternative between them.

Mercedes spent hundreds of millions of pounds developing their PU. Williams spent nothing. Force India spent nothing. Why should Mercedes spend all of that money just to give it away to other teams for a few millions each?

[dans79]

I don't think it's acceptable from a competition standpoint to have a known handicap, 2 tier system. That's just paying to win all over while holding others behind.

Every design formula works this way, doesn't matter if it's cars, boats, or planes. It almost always comes down to has the most $$$. The only time and underdog comes out on top, is because those with more $$$ made a mistake, or because the underdog figured out a trick that the others haven't.

it's ironic, but the FIA's constant tightening of the rules under the guise of "cost savings", has the opposite effect. It makes it more expensive to find an advantage, thus making it even harder for the midfield and back to compete.

[dans79]

How long would F1 survive if all customer teams simply said "no", we wont buy your de-tuned engines any more?

They aren't de-tuned.

What they are, is optimized for the design philosophy of the manufacture teams. Every thing is taken into account aerodynamic philosophy, cooling philosophy, suspension philosophy, gearing philosophy etc etc. Thus when you put it into a different car it's always going to be a compromise.

[Just_a_fan]

Doubtless Mercedes also use a "safe" map most of the time for the sake of reliability and, of course, good press. Blowing engines is not good PR! Giving the customer teams a safe map knowing that it'll be unlikely to cause reliability issues is an obvious and wise thing to do. Using "risky" maps on occasion on their own cars is a calculated risk which they take when the title race demands it.

Look at the negative PR coming Renault's way from RedBull...

[roon]

They aren't de-tuned. What they are, is optimized for the design philosophy of the manufacture teams. Every thing is taken into account aerodynamic philosophy, cooling philosophy, suspension philosophy, gearing philosophy etc etc. Thus when you put it into a different car it's always going to be a compromise.

Yeah, if you're building both the engine and the car, you're gonna have an advantage. If the customer teams could build their own engine, they would. It's easy to say that a simpler engine would be cheaper to enter, but when it comes to optimization, as you say:

It almost always comes down to has the most $$$. The only time and underdog comes out on top, is because those with more $$$ made a mistake, or because the underdog figured out a trick that the others haven't.

BrawnGP.

[PlatinumZealot]

If this "Strat 7" is programmed in, what's to stop a team like Williams using it whenever they want ?

Say they are 4th and closing in on a podium, why wouldn't they ?

Because strat 7 is not always there, and sometimes it does something else. It seemsis it totally changeable track to track depensing on what Mercedes wants to do with it. Sort of like the blank tile in scrabble.