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For the full season of 20 Formula 1 races, each driver is allowed to use a total of 8 fresh engines. The team is responsible to managing the engines the best they can along the year.
“We basically do what we want to do with the engines,” Laurent Mekies, Chief Engineer at Scuderia Toro Rosso, told Auto123.com.
“We install the engine we want, when we want it. We can even install a first engine in the car and have it run as many races as we wish. The technological development of the engine is frozen, so all engines are almost identical. We do not chose one engine for a race in particular,” Mekies added.
Each engine is capable to cover a certain mileage without too much problems. The key thing for the teams is to closely monitor the life cycle of each engine and have it cover the predicted mileage in the best conditions possible. Once it has reached this mileage, it is no loger being used and is replaced by a fresh unit.
“From our lap-time simulation software, we estimate the difference in lap times if the engine would have, for example, an additional 10 horsepower. So we determine on which circuits we need the extra horsepower from a fresh engine. Then with our engine supplier Ferrari, we plan the rotation of engines for the entire season, based on the tracks where we'll need fresh, and therefore powerful engines,” Mekies told us.
Drivers who have used 7 new engines so far:
Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault)
Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault)
Fernando Alonso (Ferrari-Ferrari)
Felipe Massa (Ferrari-Ferrari)
Kimi Räikkönen (Lotus-Renault)
Romain Grosjean (Lotus-Renault)
Sergio Pérez (Sauber-Ferrari)
Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber-Ferrari)
Nico Hülkenberg (Force India-Mercedes)
Paul di Resta (Force India-Mercedes)
Pastor Maldonado (Williams-Renault)
Bruno Senna (Williams-Renault)
Jean-Éric Vergne (Toro Rosso-Ferrari)
Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso-Ferrari)
Timo Glock (Marussia-Cosworth)
Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham-Renault)
Vitaly Petrov (Caterham-Renault)
Narain Karthikeyan (HRT-Cosworth)
Pedro de la Rosa (HRT-Cosworth)
Drivers who have used 8 new engines so far:
Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)
Jenson Button (McLaren-Mercedes)
Nico Rosberg (Mercedes-Mercedes)
Michael Schumacher(Mercedes-Mercedes)
Driver who has used a 9th engine:
Charles Pic (Marussia-Cosworth)
“We basically do what we want to do with the engines,” Laurent Mekies, Chief Engineer at Scuderia Toro Rosso, told Auto123.com.
“We install the engine we want, when we want it. We can even install a first engine in the car and have it run as many races as we wish. The technological development of the engine is frozen, so all engines are almost identical. We do not chose one engine for a race in particular,” Mekies added.
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| Photo: WRi2 |
Each engine is capable to cover a certain mileage without too much problems. The key thing for the teams is to closely monitor the life cycle of each engine and have it cover the predicted mileage in the best conditions possible. Once it has reached this mileage, it is no loger being used and is replaced by a fresh unit.
“From our lap-time simulation software, we estimate the difference in lap times if the engine would have, for example, an additional 10 horsepower. So we determine on which circuits we need the extra horsepower from a fresh engine. Then with our engine supplier Ferrari, we plan the rotation of engines for the entire season, based on the tracks where we'll need fresh, and therefore powerful engines,” Mekies told us.
Drivers who have used 7 new engines so far:
Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault)
Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault)
Fernando Alonso (Ferrari-Ferrari)
Felipe Massa (Ferrari-Ferrari)
Kimi Räikkönen (Lotus-Renault)
Romain Grosjean (Lotus-Renault)
Sergio Pérez (Sauber-Ferrari)
Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber-Ferrari)
Nico Hülkenberg (Force India-Mercedes)
Paul di Resta (Force India-Mercedes)
Pastor Maldonado (Williams-Renault)
Bruno Senna (Williams-Renault)
Jean-Éric Vergne (Toro Rosso-Ferrari)
Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso-Ferrari)
Timo Glock (Marussia-Cosworth)
Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham-Renault)
Vitaly Petrov (Caterham-Renault)
Narain Karthikeyan (HRT-Cosworth)
Pedro de la Rosa (HRT-Cosworth)
Drivers who have used 8 new engines so far:
Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)
Jenson Button (McLaren-Mercedes)
Nico Rosberg (Mercedes-Mercedes)
Michael Schumacher(Mercedes-Mercedes)
Driver who has used a 9th engine:
Charles Pic (Marussia-Cosworth)