Steve Slater on Formula One: 2014 will be an ‘Eco-lottery’

Ferrari Formula One. Photo from ferrari.com

As we head into the opening race of the 2014 Formula One World Championship in Melbourne, Australia, reliability issues surrounding the introduction of a new raft of environmentally-friendly technologies may turn the start of the new season into a lottery.

The package of new regulations, demanding a change to smaller turbocharged engines, enhanced by petrol-electric hybrid technology has meant that almost every team has struggled to develop consistent pace and reliability in pre-season testing. Some front-running teams have yet to even see their cars run for the duration of a full Grand Prix.

The three vital weeks of pre-season testing in Spain and Bahrain during February demonstrated just how hard it was for even the top Formula One teams to push the boundaries of engineering and electronics technology. The new turbocharged 1.6 liter V6 engines are combined with Energy Recovery Systems (ERS), a high-tech battery package which stores energy recycled from heat from the turbochargers and the car’s braking system.

While last year’s Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) energy recovery package gave drivers an extra 80 hp for just over six seconds per lap, the 2014 ERS gives drivers around 160 hp for approximately 33 seconds per lap, adding to around 600 hp produced by the petrol engine. In order to control the ERS energy recovery, the cars now also use an electronic ‘brake by wire’ control system for the rear brakes, while the characteristics of the V6 engine now mean that an all-new eight-speed, rather than seven-speed gearbox is used.

The biggest challenge in the opening races of the 2014 season will be cooling the new hybrid power unit. Anyone with a smartphone or laptop will know how the batteries create heat when they are charging or working hard.

One can therefore imagine how much heat is being generated by a battery pack that in a matter of seconds, is absorbing and releasing enough energy to drive a normal family car. In addition the turbocharger generates immense heat as it compresses the fuel and air to boost power inside the engine. Temperatures of well over 1000 degrees Celsius are commonplace.

Mercedes seems so far to have the initial mastery of these challenges. In addition to the Petronas AMG Mercedes cars of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, who are tipped to be early-season front runners, the Mercedes engines are also being used by the McLaren, Force India and Williams teams. All Mercedes-powered teams performed strongly in the pre-season tests.

Williams may be one team well worth watching. Though last year they suffered their worst season in almost four decades in the sport, the company has a particularly strong engineering base and away from the sport, have provided hybrid power trains for road-car makers. They are ideally placed to make the best use of the new technology.

In addition, Williams has recently recruited some of the best race engineers from other teams. Former Renault engineer Pat Symonds is now chief technical officer, heading a team which includes ex-Ferrari man Rob Smedley, along with Rod Nelson and Jakob Andreasen, who previously were senior engineers with Lotus and Force India.

On the driving front, new recruit Felipe Massa has delighted the team with both his technical feedback and pace. Massa is closely matched by the talented Finn, Valtteri Bottas.

In contrast, the Renault-powered teams have suffered the biggest raft of reliability problems. They achieved so little on-track running in testing that front-runners Red Bull and Lotus, as well as the similarly-powered Toro Rosso and Caterham cars start the early races of the season with almost totally unproven cars.

In contrast, Ferrari’s all-champion line-up of Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen covered 975 laps of testing, proving that the Ferrari F14 T might just be a match for the Mercedes-powered cars in reliability. The Ferrari engines power Sauber and Marussia, who also amassed significant test mileage. If Ferrari can match their reliability with pace, they will, I suspect, be in a head-to-head battle with Mercedes for early season victory.