New York to host an F1 race ?

Although Liberty Media F1 boss Chase Carey refuses to say anything specific about his plans for expanding Formula 1 in the United States of America, it is very clear that the city that best fits the bill as a global destination city is New York, with its iconic skyline and picturesque setting. Bernie Ecclestone first began trying to create a race in New York in the early 1980s when Flushing Meadow in Queens was chosen as the venue. A race was planned for the autumn of 1983 but this had to be called off when the threat of last-minute injunctions proved to be too risky even for Ecclestone to take the gamble. The rival CART series then stole his glory by running a race in the parking lots of the Meadowlands stadium in New Jersey.

It was never a huge success but ran until 1992 when CART tried to host a race on the streets around the World Trade Center. The race was supported by the mayor, was promoted by IMG and was to be sponsored by Marlboro.

 In the end it didn't happen because of tobacco advertising. After this the focus switched to trying to find a parkland circuit, similar in concept to Albert Park in Melbourne, or Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. These are far more sustainable because they avoid closing down large sections of the downtown area and do not cut major traffic arteries. They are largely self-contained so as to cause minimum disruption.

Ecclestone continued to look at different projects and came close a second time with plans for a race in Port Imperial, on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River. This failed because of lack of funding. The key for Liberty is believed to be the backdrop of the skyscrapers of Manhattan and so projects such as Floyd Bennett Field, a former air base near Coney Island, can be discounted.

With Formula E having set up a makeshift track on the Brooklyn waterfront, Formula 1 needs an even better venue and there are a couple of potential sites which fit the bill: Liberty State Park and Governors Island.

Liberty State Park would be a perfect location with everything F1 would need, great views of the city skyline and a light rail link from the city and ferry access from Manhattan.

Governors Island has a lot of potential as it is a 172-acre island currently being completely redeveloped after it suffered serious damage during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. This is now undulating parkland located only 800 yards from Manhattan, and even closer to Brooklyn. This would be accessible only by ferry, but would be right next door to downtown.

F1 Engine future

There has been a great deal of discussion in recent weeks about the future of Formula 1 engines from 2021 onwards, and the signs are that there is now broad agreement from the major players that the goal will be to use modified versions of the current engines, to avoid the costs of a completely new formula, while also opening up the technology to allow other manufacturers to enter the sport. It may sound crazy to suggest that there could be a situation in which F1 could end up with 10 manufacturer teams, but if the right financial package is in place, and the costs involved are more controlled, the sport will become more attractive to car companies looking for a way to get to new consumers, particularly in Asia.


The signs are that the new regulations will do away with the noise-absorbing, complex and expensive MGU-H systems, and will instead increase but standardise MGU-K systems. The engines will be twin turbos with a faster fuel-flow rate. As part of the push for a better show, F1 engine noise is being studied by the Austrian engine development firm AVL with a view to getting a better sound in the future.


In Hungary, Red Bull's Helmut Marko said that it was important for F1 to have independent engine manufacturers such as Aston Martin, Cosworth or Ilmor. The word is that Red Bull Racing and McLaren may have agreed to work with Cosworth to jointly develop an engine concept for the new rules and both will ultimately use the engine technology developed for their own individual engine projects: McLaren for its own engine and Red Bull for a unit which would be badged by Aston Martin. This works for all parties because Cosworth will get the investment it needs to create a new generation customer engine to sell to teams (or to manufacturers) while both teams would get F1 engines that will provide them with what they want in order to develop their road car businesses. Joint R&D operations are all the rage in the automobile industry and in recent months we have seen McLaren become part of a similar scheme involving the British government and BMW in order to develop road car power units.

Torro Rosso Honda engine deal ?

As suggested a fortnight ago, Sauber and Honda have gone their separate ways and the Swiss team will be sticking with Ferrari engines for the next three years. The two parties agreed a deal and it was announced back in April. But when Sauber decided to split with its CEO Monisha Kaltenborn, the relationship with Honda changed and it seems that new Sauber team principal Frederic Vasseur argued that it was better to stay with Ferrari. This led to the decision to cancel the agreement. The desire was to get a Mercedes engine, but that proved to be impossible because Mercedes could not supply Sauber if it was refusing to provide engines to McLaren and so Sauber had to accept that a deal with Ferrari, albeit for 2018 engines, was the only way to go.

This created another problem because Honda and McLaren were by this stage in a state of complete marital collapse and so the Japanese firm realised that it was facing a situation where there were no teams running the engines next year. This meant that the firm had to face up to a choice between being left out of Formula 1 completely, or to do a deal with Scuderia Toro Rosso for a free three-year engine supply deal. This was a clearly a win-win situation because it saves STR $20 million a year, gives the team the chance to do better if Honda can get its act together and also offers the possibility of Red Bull Racing getting a competitive factory engine supply for the future by flipping the engine deals, as happened back in 2007 when STR took over the RBR deal for Ferrari engines when the latter got hold of Renault engines.

The final details of the Toro Rosso Honda deal are now being finalised and an announcement is expected in the next couple of weeks. All of this means that McLaren will end up with Renault engines (paying $20 million for them) and losing the Honda sponsorship that came with the deal. McLaren is happy with this because it gives the team the chance to get better results and thus build up sponsorship revenues to secure a more solid future. McLaren might even be able to win races with Renault engines and so Fernando Alonso will, no doubt, stay - he has little option elsewhere - and Renault will be happy as it will have three good teams using its power units.

The Sauber-Ferrari revival will mean that Ferrari will once again have a team in which to place its young drivers and so it is safe to suggest that the 2018 driver line-up will almost certainly be Marcus Ericsson and Charles Leclerc, unless Ferrari takes a major gamble and puts Leclerc alongside Sebastian Vettel. This is certainly being discussed at the moment but it would be a huge risk for Leclerc and for Ferrari because the youngster would be under massive pressure to perform. Given that Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne has little F1 experience, he might do something this radical, but wiser heads are no doubt arguing that it is wiser to keep Kimi Raikkonen, despite his inconsistent results, if only to keep stable for Vettel. He is keen to keep the Finn, but that means that Ferrari will have less chance of winning the Constructors' Championship in the future, because he cannot produce the results needed to take the fight to Mercedes, which has two solid players in Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.

The timing is also complicated because Ferrari would ultimately like to sign Max Verstappen, but he cannot go to Maranello before 2019 at the earliest - and even then Vettel is not going to be overly pleased because Max is not going to play the submissive kind of role that Raikkonen currently does.

A decision over a Toro Rosso-Honda deal is required quickly because Red Bull needs to get to work on a gearbox (which would be a modified Red Bull unit) rather than buying a unit from McLaren, which now does not want to build a transmission for Honda engines, as was going to happen if Sauber had stuck with Honda.

The musical chairs on engines also puts Red Bull Racing into a more solid place for the future if Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz decides to quit F1 after 2020. It should be remembered that in order to create stability Bernie Ecclestone did a deal that required several big teams to commit to the sport for 10 years, in order to get access to the higher prize money. This included a clause that if the team wanted to leave F1 before the end of the agreement, it would be necessary for the company to pay substantial penalties. Most big companies are not overly impressed by penalty clauses, but this is believed to have been a huge one: $1 billion, reducing by $100 million per year over the term of the contract. Thus, if Red Bull had wanted to quit F1 in 2015, the penalty incurred would have been $500 million. This kept them in the sport. Red Bull could still leave the sport at that point but with new rules the hope is that Mateschitz will be convinced to keep at least one of his two teams in operation.

Source: JSBM

HAMILTON: MY HEART TOLD ME IT WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO

Lewis Hamilton’s heart spoke louder than his mind during the closing stages of a tense Hungarian Grand Prix, and at the end of the day sportsmanship was the winner.

By handing back third place to Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas on the final lap, the Formula 1 title contender made a gesture that cost him a podium and precious points but won him plaudits.

“I want to win the championship the right way and I don’t know whether that will come back to bite me on the backside or not,” he said. “I do think today was the right way to do things.”

Going into the race one point behind Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, Hamilton saw the gap at the top stretch to 14 points after the German chalked up his fourth victory of the season.

It would have been an 11-point difference had Hamilton, a triple world champion and the second most successful Formula One driver of all time after Michael Schumacher in terms of race wins, shown a more selfish streak.


Bottas had let his faster team mate through with 25 laps remaining, on the understanding that the positions would be reversed if the British driver failed to pass the Ferraris ahead on a track where overtaking is famously difficult.

Hamilton had plenty of excuses to press on to the chequered flag as Bottas fell more than seven seconds behind, chased closely by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen with the risk of the Dutchman passing both if the Briton slowed too much.

The team-to-car radio had also been faulty, making communication difficult throughout the race. Hamilton, though, said he knew what he had to do, and did it.

Asked afterwards whether he had listened to his head or his heart, he pointed to the latter, “I think more from the heart, probably. The mind is more cut-throat and every point counts and this is do-or-die. My heart tells me the right thing to do was to let Valtteri past.

“I think today really shows, hopefully, that I am a man of my word, and also that I am a team player. I am just as much a part of this team as anyone and I think we’re working together better than we ever had, so I think today shows unity. I think, in life, you do good things and good things do come round back to you.”

For the last three seasons the title battle has been an internal one, with Hamilton fighting his now-retired team mate and 2016 champion Nico Rosberg, but this year has brought a new outside challenge in Vettel.

While Ferrari have made little secret that the four-times champion is their main man, with Kimi Raikkonen chafing behind him in second place on Sunday, Mercedes have been firm about equal opportunities.

“Me and Valtteri have a great amount of respect for each other,” said Hamilton. “Just as the team asked him to do a job and he did it, the same rules apply to me.”

F1: THE SILLY SEASON AHEAD...

Back in the autumn of 2014, Sebastian Vettel decided to quit Red Bull Racing and signed a three-year contract with Ferrari for the 2015, 2016 and 207 seasons. The rumours at the time suggested that the deal was worth as much as $50 million a year. In seems, however, that this was only true of the first year and that the deal was front-loaded and the annual salary dropped significantly in the second and third seasons. It is probable that there were performance bonuses as part of the deal. Last year he did not win a race, but this year he has thus far won three times, bringing his total of Ferrari wins to six. He is currently fourth in the list of all time F1 winners with 45 victories and he needs another seven to overhaul Alain Prost. A fifth World Championship would put him equal to Juan Manuel Fangio, but still two behind Michael Schumacher. In any case, Vettel's Ferrari deal was probably worth around $110 million, with a few extra million in bonuses.

The deal was negotiated with Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne. Vettel has no manager and negotiates his own deals, although in the past he has been advised by Bernie Ecclestone. It is believed that Vettel agreed some kind of option to join Mercedes in 2018, if he wants to go, and if Mercedes wants him. That option is reportedly due to expire on August 1 and if Mercedes decides it does not want him, he will then be free to negotiate a new deal with Ferrari. The offer on the table is said to be around $45 million a year for three years, giving a total of $135 million. This seems to be about right in the circumstances, although it should be added that no figures are ever admitted to publicly because there are always confidentiality clauses in these agreements that mean that neither side can comment publicly about the terms and conditions.

The rest of the F1 driver market currently depends on Vettel's decision, but it is highly unlikely that he will move to Mercedes, where Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas have a strong partnership, with both able to win races and the team well ahead of Ferrari in the Constructors' Championship. Ferrari might wish to chase this goal but to do so would require a better second driver than Kimi Raikkonen. Vettel is happy with the Finn, who rarely performs at the same level. In their three years together at Ferrari the points tallies of the two drivers have been 278-150 (in 2015), 212-186 (2016) and this year the current total is 177-98. Ferrari is keen to keep the status quo as Vettel has not always performed at his best under the pressure of a team-mate. It is believed that Raikkonen is being offered around $8 million a year and while he may think he is worth more than that, the second Ferrari would seem to be the only gig in town for the 37-year-old Finn.

There is no question that Ferrari is interested in securing the services of Max Verstappen in the future, but this is not going to happen until 2019 at the earliest. By then Vettel will be 32 and Verstappen will be 21 and one can perhaps foresee a year or two when the two could be in the same team before Verstappen becomes team leader in 2021. That might not be exactly what Vettel wants to see, but Ferrari needs to look to the future.



With the two Red Bull drivers locked into their contracts in 2018, there is little on offer for Fernando Alonso, unless the Spaniard wants to walk away from F1, which does not seem to be very likely. If he does the possible replacements include Carlos Sainz Jr, although he made a bit of a faux pas by not being entirely positive about Red Bull, which seems to have backfird quite dramatically. The latest thinking is that Sergio Perez will leave Force India and join Nico Hulkenberg at Renault, while Esteban Ocon will stay where he is and will be joined by new boy Lucas Auer - if he does a good enough job in the upcoming testing.

Source: JSNL

MERCEDES OUT OF DTM TO FOCUS ON FORMULA E AND FORMULA 1

Mercedes has announced a strategic repositioning of its motorsport activities: the company will conclude its participation in DTM at the end of 2018 and enter Formula E in the 2019/20 season.

This new approach will see Mercedes-Benz competing at both ends of the motorsport spectrum: in Formula 1, the pinnacle of motorsport combining high technology and the most demanding competitive challenge; and in Formula E, which embodies the transformation that is underway in the automotive industry.

Since the “new” DTM was founded in 2000, we have so far enjoyed 18 continuous seasons of great racing, spectacular battles and close-matched competition. We were lucky enough to celebrate championship success and learned how to handle defeat. And we loved every second of it.

“Our years in the DTM will always be held high as a major chapter in the motorsport history of Mercedes,” commented Toto Wolff.


“I want to thank every team member whose fantastic work has helped to make Mercedes-Benz the most successful DTM manufacturer during that time. Although leaving is tough for all of us, we will be doing everything during this season and next to make sure we win as many DTM titles as possible before we go. We owe that to our fans and to ourselves.”

Since the DTM was founded in 1988, there have been 26 racing seasons during which Mercedes-Benz has won 10 drivers’, 13 team and six manufacturer titles (DTM + ITC combined). With our fans, we have celebrated 183 race wins, 128 pole positions and 540 podium finishes.

“Our departure from the DTM brings a long-standing motorsport era to a close. We look back with pride on the commitment of our teams, drivers, partners and the many people behind the scenes, who so often made the series a fascinating platform for our customers and for fans of our brand,” concluded Vice President Marketing Mercedes-Benz Cars Dr Jens Thiemer. “It is now time to start on a new path.”

Electric mobility is already of strategic importance to the company today and this will only increase in the future. Formula E offers a perfect platform on which to demonstrate the competitiveness of our technology brand EQ in a racing environment, in the area of battery electric powertrains.

“Mercedes-Benz will market future battery powered electric vehicles using the EQ label,” explained Dr Jens Thiemer, Vice President Marketing Mercedes-Benz. “Formula E is a significant step in order to demonstrate the performance of our attractive battery powered electric vehicles, as well as giving an emotional spin to our EQ technology brand through motorsport and marketing.”

Toto Wolff views Formula E as a brand new form of racing that reflects a rapidly changing automotive landscape, “In motorsport like in every other area, we want to be the benchmark in the premium segment and to explore innovative new projects. The combination of Formula 1 and Formula E delivers that.”

“Formula E is like an exciting start-up venture: it offers a brand new format, combining racing with a strong event character, in order to promote current and future technologies. Electrification is happening in the road car world and Formula E offers manufacturers an interesting platform to bring this technology to a new audience – and to do so with a completely new kind of racing, different to any other series.”

“I am pleased that we were able to extend our entry option for one year to the 2019/20 season. This gives us time to properly understand the series and to prepare for our entry in the right way.”

“Today is a great day as we welcome Mercedes to the Formula E family – adding to the increasing number of manufacturers joining the electric revolution,” said Formula E Founder and CEO Alejandro Agag.

“This step shows how much the world is changing, not only in motorsport, but the whole automotive industry. We’re witnessing a transformation that will first change our cities, and then our roads. Formula E is the championship that embodies that change, and together with all our teams and manufacturers we’ll keep pushing for technologies to have better and more affordable electric cars.”

SAUBER AND F1 ENGINES

The first thing that Formula 1 needs to do is to figure out which team will use which engines in 2018. The engineers are now pushing for decisions, in order to get things in order to ensure that the new cars can be built in time for the sport of next year's season. It is clear that Ferrari will use Ferrari engines, with Mercedes using Mercedes and Renault using Renault. Some of the others seem relatively solid with Williams and Force India sticking with Mercedes and Red Bull Racing remaining as a Renault customer, albeit with TAG Heuer badging. The rules state that a major car manufacturer may not (directly or indirectly) supply engines for more than three two-car teams, without the consent of the FIA. This means that Mercedes cannot supply a fourth team unless the governing body agrees. It appears that while Sauber is now keen to run Mercedes engines, the Swiss team cannot do so unless there is an agreement. 

The suggestion that is being shopped around is that Sauber's owners have decided that they do not want to push ahead with the announced plan for the team to use Honda engines. Honda and Sauber announced at the end of April that the Japanese firm would become a "technological partner" for 2018 and that the new partnership would constitute "a cornerstone" for the team's future. At the time, Katsuhide Moriyama, the head of the Honda brand, said that Sauber would become "a customer racing team" for Honda, alongside the partnership with McLaren. But there were clear indications that McLaren and Honda might split and so it appears that Sauber and Honda were waiting to complete the full agreements which would likely have made the team the Honda factory operation in the future. 

The departure of Sauber CEO Monisha Kaltenborn, who found it impossible to work with the new chairman and was not supported by the owner, changed everything. Sauber did not know what to do and began chasing a series of people. It gradually became clear that, for various reasons, the only realistic choice for the role was Frédéric Vasseur, who was previously team principal of Renault F1 but departed because he did not have the power he felt he needed to properly form the team. Vasseur has built a very successful empire and has no financial worries for the future and so was in a position to try to fulfil his ambitions in Formula 1. 

In the negotiations with Sauber he was clearly in the driving seat as the team had no other real choice, which explains why it took so long for the agreement to happen. Among his demands, it seems, was the insistence that Sauber should not use Honda engines in the future.

There was speculation that this would lead to a Mercedes engine deal for the team, as Vasseur is close to Toto Wolff (left), the man in charge of the Mercedes F1 team. This would have suited Wolff, who has been trying to avoid McLaren getting Mercedes engines, for fear that the Woking team might beat the factory operation, despite the fact that his bosses (and partners, because he owns shares in the team) in Stuttgart have been pushing for a McLaren-Mercedes deal. 

However, supplying four teams is impossible unless the FIA agrees to it and it seems that the federation is rather keen to avoid increasing the political clout of Mercedes within F1 and so was baulking at allowing it to take on another team (although Mercedes did have four teams last year before Manor went bust).

Having said that, it seems that the bilateral commercial deals between the teams and the Commercial Rights Holder, may a contain different terms and that the Formula 1 Commission must agree to a manufacturer being allowed to supply more than four teams, which meant that Wolff could stop McLaren getting a Mercedes supply if he could sign up Sauber.

It looks as though the politicking has stopped McLaren getting Mercedes engines, but in turn this has meant that Sauber cannot have them either and so it is expected that the Swiss team will stay with Ferrari next year (probably with up to date engines) and will take on rising star and Ferrari protege Charles Leclerc as part of the deal. Given that the owners of Sauber seem keen to keep Marcus Ericsson, rather than the quicker Pascal Wehrlein (a Mercedes driver), there are likely to be some interesting discussions over the driver line-up. Vasseur is believed to have insisted also that he have control over driver choice. He is a fan of Stoffel Vandoorne, who has been having an uncomfortable time at McLaren of late, but has recently perked up probably because of all the politics going on around him.

The indications are that McLaren will still split with Honda but that is not yet finalised because the Japanese have one chance left with McLaren waiting until September before making a final decision and Honda appearing to finally be making progress. If the decision is confirmed that there will be a split, Honda would appear to be in trouble without a team for 2018, but the signs are that the Japanese engines could go to Toro Rosso with Honda either buying the team or Red Bull agreeing to the deal on the basis that Toro Rosso would be the guinea pig until the Honda engines are ready and then they would be handed over to Red Bull Racing and the team would then have a factory engine and be in a position to challenge again.

In the interim, McLaren would go with Renault for a year or two, during which the firm will develop its own F1 engines (ready for the 2021 rules), after which it would become its own engine supplier. McLaren is already making its own road car engines and the logical next step is to have its own F1 engines as well.

Vasseur starts at Sauber today and it will be interesting to see how he does. The deal he has struck with the Sauber owners is to spend most of his time in Zurich but not to actually live there. He does not speak German which will make life interesting with the workforce, but the primary strategic move will be to get the cars more competitive. This will involve a revamp of the technical team and Vasseur may not agree with the way things have been run by Jorg Zander.

It is still a huge gamble for Vasseur, which could easily end up with failure, but the team has good facilities and good people, even if recruitment is a problem. One must also suppose that Vasseur has been promised a certain level of funding by the shareholders, or at least has been given the power to find the money himself.

Source: JSNL

F1 speculations never two without three !

 MCLAREN FERRARI? HAAS ALFA ROMEO? NO SAUBER HONDA?

Although there are only seven days between the Austrian Grand Prix and the British Grand Prix, Formula 1 news has been relatively slow, thus many news outlets are publishing speculative features expanding on morsels of information fluttering about the paddock.

Our German and Italian colleagues are working overtime, scratching deep for stories and as a result some interesting reports have emerged. How realistic they are only time will tell?

Nevertheless, I think it’s important to put it out there with regards to what is being written.

McLaren powered by Ferrari?


Perhaps the most explosive theory doing the rounds has emerged on the pages of Gazzetta dello Sport suggesting that McLaren are talking to Ferrari with regards to an engine supply.

They report: “On the table is the sensational supply of Ferrari power units to McLaren. A dramatic and unpredictable scenario, unimaginable years ago but could materialise if the negotiations held between the parties should take place. The new bosses at McLaren have in fact submitted an exploratory inquiry to Ferrari and the answer is still pending…”

This would be a massive development within the sport, and ironically would again connect Fernando Alonso – if he remains with the Woking outfit – to Maranello in a roundabout kind of way.

A McLaren spokesman said: “We’re working with Honda to address shortcomings and deficiencies; together, we’re considering options, but we won’t comment on media speculation about our future power unit supply.”

Haas powered by Alfa Romeo?

Another more plausible report is Speedweek’s speculative piece also regarding Ferrari, claiming that the power units supplied to Haas may be badged with the Alfa Romeo motif.

On more than one occasions Ferrari big boss Sergio Marchionne made it known that he was keen to have the legendary Italian brand back in Formula 1.

The Speedweek report digs out quotes from the last time Marchionne spoke of his desire earlier this year, “I want to see Alfa Romeo back racing in Formula 1 someday, because I believe very strongly it’s a place the brand should be. I don’t know how likely it is that this will happen. But the fact that we are talking about is a good sign in itself.”

This scenario could trigger a bunch of intriguing options for 2018:
Haas get Alfa Romeo badged Ferrari power units for next season and beyond;
Antonio Giovinazzi gets full time drive alongside Kevin Magnussen at Haas;
Romain Grosjean replaces Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari.

Honda terminate Sauber deal

Another potentially huge story germinating, on the pages of Auto Bild and echoed by Speedweek, is that Honda have decided to pull the plug on their deal with Sauber before it even started.

The Auto Bild report claims: “The reason for the sudden termination of the contract [between Sauber and Honda] is because Honda is dissatisfied with the internal upheaval of the Swiss team. The contract for a three-year engine supply partnership was negotiated by Monisha Kaltenborn.”

“Honda bosses held Kaltenborn in high regard for saving the Swiss team in times of crisis. But Sauber and Kaltenborn separated four weeks ago. It is known in the paddock that Honda were disappointed by this development within the team.”

Should this be the case, then Sauber are without an engine for 2018 and beyond. If indeed Honda cancel the deal, then the Hinwil based outfit will surely depend on reviving their Ferrari deal with whom they have had a long association.

All these are speculative reports, but they deserve air-time because experience has taught us: expect the unexpected in Formula 1 and with the sport rushing into a new exciting era big changes across the board are perhaps inevitable.

By: Paul Velasco

BURNING OIL IN FORMULA !

At the end of the summer back in 1997, I found myself suddenly and unexpectedly single. Sleeping on a sofa and driving an F Registration Sierra Sapphire 1.6 that was slow, smelly and very smoky.

Had I blacked out at the car auctions? Were the chips drugged? Who knows? But boy, did that car use oil. I could barely drive a 12-mile route to work without it needing a top up. It honestly cost me more in oil than petrol.

I have always associated since that burning oil is bad. The thing is this car was burning oil because it was knackered, however, in a healthy engine it can actually be beneficial.

Later that year I purchased a new car, a 2.0 5-cylinder turbo engine which at that moment was the fastest front wheel drive production car in the world. The engine was designed to use 1 litre of oil per 1000 miles.


This is classed as “normal usage” in the manual. 100,000 miles and 20 years later it is still producing 227bhp and running better than ever. So there are benefits.

What is the argument?

In Formula 1 burning oil as part of combustion is banned because of these perceived benefits, but it is claimed some teams have found a way to circumnavigate the rules.

Red Bull was the first to blow a whistle and point to Mercedes accusing them of using this method to get a power boost over the rest of the pack, specifically in the closing stages of qualifying or when they needed an extra little boost on the final laps last year. Mercedes shook their heads in amazement and it is believed that this year has pointed to Ferrari. The Italians naturally have denied it and have accredited their gains to mapping… which may be true.

In recent weeks the FIA have been looking into the situation and have reiterated the rules to all teams, although many pundits believe that the reminder was more for Ferraris benefit than anyone else.

This week Renault’s F1 engine chief Remi Taffin has suggested that there is no smoke without fire (excuse the pun), and simply the length of time the authority have spent on it shows they have a reason for suspicion or the speculation would have died down by now.

F1 engines and new ignition systems

Mahle Jet Ignition. So the latest variants of F1 engines are not quite as simple as you might think. Yes, there is a spark plug, but that is to ignite a small amount of a rich mixture of fuel vapour in a small chamber at the top of the main cylinder. When combusted about five bolts of lightning travel through small holes at the bottom of the nozzle. This is then used to ignite the leaner mix in the main cylinder far more effectively. A tradition spark plug alone is far less effective.



These lightning bolts effectively cause chaos in the cylinder and cause more droplets of fuel to be burnt (at the same time from the outside in), in one big bang than anything has before. Result? More power from less fuel and that is everything in an engine that needs as much power as possible from a regulated fuel flow from a limited supply.

This is tricky to manage. It requires huge amounts of mapping data. Instructions from the ECU that dictates that when Air is x and fuel is y, and crank position is z then ignite at a. The issue comes when you’re running at 15,000 RPM. If the charge is released too early then the explosion that is supposed to push the piston back down might go off at the wrong time and cause “knock” and the sound of a misfire while the ECU franticly tries to compensate from its lookup tables. The point is that conditions vary wildly from track to track and minute to minute with air pressure, temperature etc.

Get this mapping right and its great – ask Mercedes. Get it wrong engines and gearboxes die – ask Honda, Getting the mapping right takes many hours track trial an error. Mercedes had this luxury, Honda didn’t. You can’t replicate real track conditions on any dyno, and track testing is heavily limited.

As a bandage (and further aid) there are many additives that you could use in fuel that help stabilise this process. The best solution is to use additives that make sure the fuel droplets are all the same size and go pop at the same time. This is maximising volumetric efficiency.

Volumetric Efficiency

This is simple. The cylinder is only so big. The trick is to get as much air and fuel in as you can but in a way that most of it can be converted to energy. Too much and it chokes, too little and your losing power. There is a curved line and you aim for the top. Most power from least fuel. If you stabilise the fuel through additives, you delay the combustion enough so everything goes bang when you want it to. They can also artificially increase the effective octane rating of the fuel. The FIA do not like this either.

What gains can be anticipated by such additives?

This can be itemised relatively quickly with a few bullet points
Enlarged capacity (effective) by being able to efficiently produce more power from less fuel, you are effectively replicating a bigger (standard) engine.
Volumetric efficiency, you could create the same power with less fuel when needed
Stabilised control, would give you less “knock” and more reliable and smooth power through improved combustion.

Unfortunately for the teams, fuel is heavily regulated and most of the polymers that can effect these benefits are banned.

Fuel Regulation

Fuel blends are very heavily guarded and regulated. The rules also change as teams with clever boffins in dark rooms find ways of “entering into the spirit” of the FIA law. Regulations have also changed on fuel for 2018 (most notably diolefins that likely reduce combustion temperature and so be more predictable)

These additives ARE however in the Oil the cars use.

Oil is far less regulated. Simple. 99% of the composition is very similar to the product you can buy on the shelves. Its that 1% that makes all the difference and closely guarded. However, going back to that 99%… Guess what.? Most of the major players in automotive lubricants worldwide like BP Castrol, Shell, Elf Auto, BPCL, HPCL, IOCL, Lubrizol, Infineum, EXXON rely mostly on such polymers because of how they serve “the consistency in quality.”

So all we have to do is find a way of letting a tiny percentage through into the cylinders. Government documents state clearly the benefit can be seen when these polymers account for as little as .001% of the combustible material. But…

Burning Oil is not allowed

The FIA regulations tells us this.

How might we get passed this?

(Without ending up with a horse’s head in my bed)

Actually on a turbo engine, it’s not that hard and could easily be designed into its specification. The easiest way (not that I am making any accusations) is to have a “controlled” leaky turbo bearing on the compressor side. Shafts have bearings and shafts that need to be cooled. Engine oil is used to cool it. If they are a bit “leaky” (not in a Ford Sierra way) then oil ends up in the plenum as a mist, which continues into the cylinders.

If say in “Qualy Mode” the mapping allowed spikes of boost and increased oil pressures (sensors also changed for next year and have to meet FIA criteria), then there is a chance that some might get through… The FIA have to allow for SOME “incidental leakage” It makes it very hard to govern.

Obviously we should not too much oil to get through, and of course not all the while (perhaps when you need an extra squirt at the end of qualifying 3 or last few laps of the race?), or else when the lubricant gets inspected after the race it might have used a bit too much to be “incidental”.

But we don’t need much of these polymers to make a difference. Oh did I explain that such things can also clean up smoke products, and only eject carbon dioxide and water as by products?

Why have the FIA been so soft in its investigations?

Plausible deniability. Teams such as Torro Rosso and Force India are supplied complete power units from the manufacturer. Accusations aimed at works teams date back to last year. Evidence erased. This year’s data could probably be argued by expensive lawyers to be “incidental”

Sahara Force India’s COO Otmar Szarfnauer, who run Mercedes customer engines, told Autosport that he regrets the oil burn matter has dragged on for so long. He said: “The FIA had an opportunity to fix it a long time ago and didn’t take it. It is one of those things – my neighbour once told me if you put your time in early with your child, once they are an adult you are done.”

Even so, assume you could prove it, how would you quantify the gains and what penalties would be made? Would you punish the manufacturer or the purchasing team, or both? Stripping titles, changing positions. There would be huge and complicated legal and financial implications when dealing with this in retrospect.

Easiest thing is to change the regulations for next year and reiterate the regulations to all teams this year. Which is what they did on 23rd June when the FIA sent a reminder to teams ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix about potentially burning oil to provide a pace boost, especially in qualifying.

If I was a team principle, I might decide to avoid any further unwanted FIA investigations or penalties and launch a preemptive strike. I might wait until we are starting to focus on next year’s engine and reluctantly retire my engine designer as a sacrifice to the gods and look at some fresh meat with fresh ideas based on new regulations for 2018.

Or am I getting too sceptical in my old age?

 By Steve Barby