Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Why is Mercedes struggling to understand George Russell’s straight line flaw? They should have all the data on battery usage, ICE output, e-motor power, and how much air and car alignment it generates, such as rake angle.
At the Belgian Grand Prix, Mercedes experienced inexplicable behavior from their power unit.
Russell suffered for this, a lack of energy on the energy to qualify is mysterious. It cost him some, but not all of it to the detriment of teammate Kimi Antonelli. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff put the loss from the engine at around 0.2-0.25 seconds.
Something very similar happened from McLaren to Oscar Piastri in relation to Lando Norris.
Both drivers suffered from a lack of power in the first lap which both contributed to the Russell incident with Hamilton and Antonelli as Max Verstappen approached Eau Rouge.
As Wolff said: “It wasn’t just George as all the Mercedes engines lacked power from turn one. It affected him more than Kimi, but Kimi had that issue to some degree.”
Wolff, who was in the race, said it was a “new issue.”
Mercedes said they don’t understand why either situation happened.
The basic issue is that the latest F1 hybrid engines are very complex, as they have to work according to the rules, and manufacturers and teams are still learning about them.
One of the effects of this is that the small details of driving can have a disproportionately large effect on power delivery. That’s one reason why the drivers don’t like these engines.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, one of the best technical communicators in the sport, has spoken extensively about this this season.
He said over the weekend at Spa: “You don’t make these power units in an open way, so that I can have an offline simulation and say, ‘Oh, this is how electricity is spread and it’s always going to be the same as itself.’
“There’s a big part of the controller that drives the power unit, which is made by direct calculations, and the power unit calculates ahead – what it needs to do. A lot of things happen when the car is going.
“That’s why it’s not easy to understand what calculations were made while the car was moving.
“I’m sure we understand the reason, but at the same time you have to be able to predict and make sure that the operation of the power unit is done as expected.
This is because it affects not only the power limited parts (and) the straights, but also the brake points.
“Because if you have an extra amount of product before you brake, you’re approaching braking 10km/h slower and your braking point will change.
“This is very difficult for drivers to master, and it is one of the reasons why they talk about the problems of using the power unit from a driving point of view.
“Not only to get the most out of the power unit, but also because the differences in the power unit will affect the references when approaching a corner.
“But significant relevant differences are so small that they can happen from one round to the next, even if you learn from previous rounds.”
This complication explains why McLaren have been so tight-lipped with their relationship with Mercedes this season, particularly with how much information they have been given about the engine’s performance.
As Stella said: “We are only just beginning to find the tools needed to estimate, facilitate and study these emotions, and we are halfway there.”
