Mercedes will reveal renderings of its car today. On the same day, the manufacturers will address his engine.
And not only his. Red Bull is also supposed to use the same trick.
This year, as part of extensive rule changes, the compression ratio of the internal combustion engine was reduced from 18:1 to 16:1. The compression ratio indicates the ratio of the volume of the cylinder at the moment when the piston is in the bottom dead center (lowest position) compared to the top dead center.
The compression ratio is the ratio of the cylinder volumes in the piston position at bottom dead center and in the piston position at top dead center (blue divided by red)
Photo: Keszeli Mário
However, Mercedes and apparently Red Bull should have figured out a way to increase the compression ratio, allegedly up to 18:1 again. Both manufacturers apparently took advantage of the thermal expansion of the materials. These are not major design changes – for the mentioned increase, it is enough to change the height of the compression space by less than half a millimeter.
On the track, however, the differences are more striking. It is estimated that this modification can add up to 15 horsepower, which can mean 3 to 4 tenths of a second in lap time. This is a lot even in a season where more variables will decide the results.
Mercedes customers, to whom Alpine now belongs, can have a reason to smile. Incidentally, there is speculation about his car that together with Audi it has reached the minimum permissible weight, while the other teams are supposed to be overweight at the beginning of the year. It would not be surprising, especially for Audi – the car is still produced by the factory in Hinwil, which did a similar trick at the beginning of the last era in 2022, from which the team benefited solidly.
But back to the engines. Is the Mercedes power unit legal? Could the FIA ban it, or can a competition protest in Melbourne succeed?
There are two different views. The first, and unfortunately stronger for competitors, is based on Article C5.4.3. The latter states that the compression ratio is 16:1 and measured at ambient temperature. You can bet your savings that everything is fine at the ambient temperature in the garage. What happens after starting on the track is another matter.
In principle, it is the same “evergreen” as for flexible wings. You can see in the pictures that they sag more than is healthy, but in reality everything is measured in the garage with weights. If the static test passes, everything is legal. Dot.
Other manufacturers allegedly argue with Article C1.5 which says that “Formula 1 cars must fully comply with these regulations for the duration of the event”.
Could the FIA intervene this year? It is generally expected to be highly unlikely. We don’t know exactly what the advantage of Mercedes and Red Bull is. It is possible that certain materials or procedures will be banned, but only from next year. While for aerodynamics the tests can be tightened even during the season, for power units development (with the exception of reliability) is frozen during the year. If other manufacturers are losing significantly, the rules will rather allow them to develop further to catch up with the competition.
At Tuesday’s presentation, Audi project chief Mattia Binotto outlined the next steps: “Today we’re doing it in cold conditions with the engine disassembled, so you can wait until the end of the season to see if you meet the requirements. We’re just all trying to develop a methodology together to be able to measure in real time while the car is running.”
Hope for competitors?
However, sometimes there are considerations as to whether the FIA could use the general regulatory provisions (Section A of the rules) in which the main objectives of the rules are set out. In them we also read that one of the goals is to “Promote competitive balance and sustainability.”
In an interview with The Times, the FIA director for single-seaters Nicolas Tombazis indicated that the FIA could intervene this year after all…
“I think it’s normal when new regulations are introduced that there will be points of discussion or areas that require some clarification or adjustment. And that’s exactly what we’re currently talking about with various stakeholders,” he told The Times.
“Our goal is to ensure that procedures are interpreted and understood uniformly.”
“We believe that the rules will be clarified and I would say that I am confident that very soon they will no longer be subject to discussion.”
