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Renault: New engine more powerful but less reliable

Published on 29 Aug 2018 09:34
15
By: Fergal Walsh

Renault says its new engine will bring a significant upgrade in power at the cost of being less reliable. Renault will have the 'spec C' engine available to them at this weekend's Italian Grand Prix, however Red Bull is the only team scheduled to run it.

Daniel Ricciardo will have the engine fitted to his car for Friday which will result in a grid penalty. Red Bull has said that it will study the information on Friday and then decide whether or not Max Verstappen will also use it for the rest of the weekend.

Remi Taffin, the team’s engine technical director, described the 'Spec C' engine as "an evolution of the current B Spec engine” which is “significantly more powerful” than its predecessor.

"Conversely, it’s possibly not as reliable as the current generation, hence the different choices made by each team," he added. "Depending on fuel used, the power gain is in the order of 0.3s per lap in qualifying on a circuit like Monza, which is a substantial step forward.”

When asked why only Red Bull is set to have the first use, Taffin said: "Because they are in a position to prioritise performance without having to worry about those behind them in the championship. For our part and McLaren, we will not be using this specification, because reliability and consistency are the essential assets to reach our end-of-season goals.”

However, the current specification of MGU-K is only being used by Renault: “McLaren and Red Bull Racing did not want to make the needed changes for its integration,” said Taffin. “They have opted to take and assume this clearly identified reliability risk.”

Fergal Walsh

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I'm getting sick and tired of Abitebullshit!

3
Aug 29 2018 - 11:22

F1 News Max Verstappen Daniel Ricciardo McLaren Red Bull Racing Renault

Replies (15)

calle.itw

Posts: 8,527
Thats some Apple level customer support there, Renault.
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- Aug 29 2018 - 10:09
F1_IS_Dead

Posts: 123
0.3s - wow. Now they only need to find one second.
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- Aug 29 2018 - 10:26
NEXT SPARE VAMP

Posts: 1,874
I'm getting sick and tired of Abitebullshit!
- + 3
- Aug 29 2018 - 11:22
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  Just getting?
  + 0
  
  Aug 29 2018 - 19:15
boudy

Posts: 1,168
PU upgrade so good that even the factory team does not want to take it. If the engine isn't ready then it shouldn't be offered. What a load of nonsense.
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- Aug 29 2018 - 12:10
- xoya
  
  Posts: 583
  Judging by your comment, you didn't read the whole article.
  + 0
  
  Aug 29 2018 - 13:45
- boudy
  
  Posts: 1,168
  Nope read it all; would Ferrari or Mercedes do such an thing? Already making excuses for an PU that's going to fail. Just don't understand the thinking and the separation of the two; looks like they built an unit that's not quite got the endurance so they are still flogging it under the guise of an performance increase.
  + 0
  
  Aug 30 2018 - 06:55
f1ski

Posts: 726
HMMM less reliable = least reliable. I guess this is a reflection of their road cars as well.
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- Aug 29 2018 - 13:57
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  And I was wondering if it could get any worse.
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  Aug 29 2018 - 19:16
Exqiu

Posts: 14
I'm sorry, but 0,3s gain over the old spec PU on a circuit like Monza is not significant :)). 0,3s gain from the PU, on lets say a less power sensitive circuit like Monaco, is a significant gain.
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- Aug 29 2018 - 14:09
- Ram Samartha
  
  Posts: 1,172
  Not quite sure how you came up with that. I didn't see anywhere that it was said they would have a .3 second gain in Monaco. A third of a second is very significant at Monza. Watch how many times are within that .3 of a second over the course of the weekend, especially in the midfield. It normally would be significant, but when you're running .75-1.5 seconds a lap slower it doesn't really make that much of a difference. At Monaco we saw those cars that are .75+ of a second faster on most tracks getting beat by the Red Bulls that were running the less powerful engines.
  + 0
  
  Aug 29 2018 - 18:58
- Exqiu
  
  Posts: 14
  I threw Monaco as an example. If you are faster at a non power sensitive track la Monza by 0.3 just from the PU only, then it will worth a hell of a lot more at a power hungry track.
  That was the analogy
  + 0
  
  Aug 29 2018 - 19:38
- Exqiu
  
  Posts: 14
  I meant to say “like Monaco” instead of “la Monza”, sorry.
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  Aug 29 2018 - 19:39
Bhurt

Posts: 320
So a double DNF for Red Bull then.
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- Aug 29 2018 - 19:30
- Bhurt
  
  Posts: 320
  Credit where credit is due. Renault built an engine that almost got Ricciardo out of the pitlane before failing.
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  Aug 31 2018 - 11:11