Ferrari managed to grab a win at the US Grand Prix, and to say it was a winner, which most were happy with is an understatement. Kimi Raikkonen, went on after 113 grand prix to win his first Grand Prix since Australia 2013, where he won with Lotus. Ferrari finally seemed on form again. But maybe way too late.
See Ferrari, since probably China have had the best overall package. However, it since came out, in a rumour, so take this with a pinch of salt, however it seems realistic- and was reported by Ted Kravitz. In the after first race, Australia- Mercedes had to modify their PU because they had a chamber of oil at the top of the pistons to burn, designed to circumvent the FIA’s sensor. This cost them 10-15 Horse power. It has been kept pretty quiet by the FIA and Mercedes, and they came to an agreement. So this must be considered when we are talking about this Ferrari engine. If you don’t know why this was illegal, it is because burning oil is against the rules and regulations.
Anyway, the reason Ferrari seemed to be ahead because finally, this Ferrari package they had been working on for a long time had worked. The rumoured dual battery, it not really a rumour, it’s pretty true right? It almost a mystery what is going on in their power unit, because we know there is something different in their PU compared to Honda, Mercedes and Renault. So what is it really in this power unit that made them so good.
So they have this dual battery, which was revealed by now Mercedes man, James Allison. Allison, whom was one of the men to flag up the engine, which was revealed by the FIA. The actual reason Allison flagged it up, was due to the noise it was making. The dual battery is a different ERS (Energy Recovery System) to everyone else.
It is a pretty complex system, with a dual battery, this means that it is hard to explain, if you are not one of the guys working/building on the Ferrari engine. But James Allison has been a help in all of this, and the rest is just what people have placed together. Craig Scarborough, has helped a lot at explaining, what he believes is going on. So, most people believe these batteries lay parallel to each other, so it allows them to produce a higher stream of energy, that goes into the engine. The problem with this, is it could give you over the 120kW limit of power, which over the 120kW is illegal, and with this twin battery it is hard to stop and cap the energy at its limit, however Ferrari, have found a way. As, before the PU was classed as legal, teams though Ferrari, were using an extra MGU-K to surpass the 120kW limit. So with the Ferrari PU, it is just the MGU-K that is in question, MGU-H seems to be the same as everyone. Well, it is assumed the MGU-H is the same but this engine is that big a mystery it could be anything. Well, not anything because the FIA said it was a legal engine.
But they had the superior car for the majority of the season. Some odd race where this wasn’t the case. According to most due to the thinner tyre tread by Pirelli which suited the Mercedes car a lot more. However, in the rain the Mercedes ruled over, prime example Hungary- a Ferrari track. Hamilton took pole and won. He went into the summer break with a lead.
However, Spa, they came back and won. Until this weekend, Ferrari had not won since the Belgium Grand Prix. Why? Well Monza is a story and half. But, fast forward to Singapore.
They brought a range of new upgrades to their car. They brought a few aerodynamic updates which, they though would allow them to get faster. Kvyat’s simulator run suggested they would be faster. Of course, Hamilton lap of magic didn’t allow this to be seen. But, this is where is started to go wrong for Ferrari, they started to lose pace everywhere to Mercedes. Not too long ago Ferrari were miles ahead on the straights and this was not the same from Singapore.
They came with a new floor to Russia, Japan and the USA. In Russia and Japan, it didn’t work. They came with more upgrades to Russia, these didn’t work, so they took them off before the race, so they kept with the car from Singapore. The USA, did not allow enough dry running to see if this floor really go them anything over Mercedes.
So what was different in the USA? They got rid of all the upgrades, back to the car pre-Singapore. Suddenly, their car was back on pace. Which showed something may be wrong in the aero tunnel, these upgrades they have been bringing were meant to make it faster, but that’s not what was happening. That is the bad news for Ferrari, the simulator at some point, was saying these upgrades were working. But that was also wrong judging by the results over the past few races.
However, it got rid of the rumour of their pace being lost because of the second FIA sensor.
So Ferrari turned up this weekend. Great. But all too late. Seventy Points. All Hamilton has to do now is finish in the top 7 never time around. Ferrari, finally found there pace again, it was not really lost just being pulled back by some aero. But it is all too late, and all too inevitable that Lewis Hamilton will become a five-time-world-champion.
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