Cool *animation. Can anyone explain why they need such big battery packs and use regenerative breaking? Are they driving hybrids or something?

Adding video to channels (Animation) - requested by notarobot.

It will be interesting to see how combining an allowance of 5 engine blocks with totally new engine works out... particularly after the results of testing.

In the pool amongst my friends, I have 12 cars managing to finish at Melbourne.

Anyone know off hand whether the turbo counts as part of the "complete engine unit?"

Kind of hybrids. With the fuel restrictions, they need every bit of help they can get. This gives them a max of 33 sec of an extra 160 hp per lap. That can save a lot of fuel, and one extra lap on a tank can often win the race.

Do they make these changes for more competitive racing (More compelling to watch) or are their other reasons? Outside of safety of course.

Also seems like the winning driver isnt necessarily the best driver if his equipment is slightly superior. Do they ever have races where the equipment (cars in this case) are equal in every way?

Yes. The naturally aspirated v8 engines were increasingly irrelevant for road car technology, so the aims of the new engine rules were to introduce the types of technology that are relevant to road cars (turbo, regenerative braking, fuel efficiency).

Two less-intended side effects are that these are the most expensive engines ever (in an era when everybody is talking about cost reductions!) and that everyone is wondering whether anyone will finish the first race...

They actually had the battery packs last year, but this year have reduced the fuel allocation by a third but without reducing the power output of the power units.

*related=http://videosift.com/video/Inside-the-2014-Renault-F1-engine

Inside the 2014 Renault F1 engine has been added as a related post - related requested by oritteropo.

No, this idea is the opposite of formula 1. The lower formulas have equal equipment, but at the top it's all about getting whatever advantage you can get, however you can get it.

I like the hybrid system, imagine if it could be used as a sort of electronic NOS system? That would add a HUGE strategy element to the race. I could be interested in watching a few of this years races now.

That's exactly how it's used.

*learn

Adding video to channels (Learn) - requested by messenger.

Not exactly.. It is limited by time and amount of energy. There is no "push to pass" button but they have some leeway on how to spread the extra energy around the lap. You can use it more on one corner but for the rest of the lap, you're total power output is reduced.

First race is now over, RBR got disqualified due to too much fuel was being fed to the engine... Also the dreaded "they will save fuel" phase was over in 10 laps. There were lots of technical DNFs, 14 cars made it to the finishline, which was miles better than worst fears. Some of the cars made their first race distance. But the main change was..

Almost unlimited torque at the low revs.. The cars were sliding, they were skittish, there were 3rd gear opposite locks.. They are once again more powerful than the grip what tires and aero can produce. Turns like T2 and T5 in Albert Park used to be "non-corners", they just pointed the nose to apex and floor it.. Now.. totally different thing. Even T9 exit was dangerous, which it hasn't been since 1999.

Eau Rouge will not be a flat out, easy corner but terrifying rollercoaster that eats lives if you don't respect it..

Only thing we lost is the sound, the new V6 uses energy so much efficiently that sound is not as loud.. On the plus side, you can hear the tires squeeling and the audience cheering. It's not V10 screech but low throaty roar.

Are you sure? The radio call to Bottas was "use your push to pass button"!

RBR have appealed, and claim that the sensor was wrong (and reckon they can prove it). That could go either way in the final wash-up.

What they meant by this is to use all power available. They got 100l of fuel to go full 1½h race. The fuel flow is limited to 100l/h. That means they need to use around 67l/h on average, this of course decreases during braking and is almost at max during acceleration. Also energy recovery and the release of that energy has some leeway to be used in different ratios, it is limited to 33s per lap. How that energy is divided, is up to the team.. So they will have the full boost of 160hp from ERS and full 100l/h fuel flow when using "push to pass" button but it's nowhere near the common definition of that function. Traditional push to pass is high boost, on 2014 F1 it means few percentages of power. The correct term would be "overtake mode".

RBR infringed fuel flow rule and no other team had been even warned, FIA has guidelines that teams should calibrate with enough margins to void minor differences between sensors. RBR refused to do this and counted on FIA not counting that marginal change. FIA had stated pre-season that in no case there will be extra fuel flow allowed, it's almost zero tolerance policy.

They've done this before, made a marginal rule infringement and got away with Charlie Whitings slap on the wrist:"change it to the next race".. Their camera mountings is already one of those little things that is technically legal and at the same is not.. It all depends if the TV crews can find a suitable camera. If they say "no", the rules are clear: they need unobstructed view.. That small hole hardly allow high quality picture, the only lens that could even remotely suffice is fisheye lens with a mask: it is not their standard equipment.. RBR most likely will have to change those too (imho, so should merc camera pods and mclaren parachutes too). Compare that to Williams 360 camera pod and it's pretty clear what FIA means by "enough room to fit camera" means.

Last year they had holes on the floor in monaco: ruling was, change them to the next race.. Then there was the TC scandal, RBR used illegal engine mappings.. They used them last year too when there was a ban of feeding fuel to exhaust during zero throttle to feed the blown diffuser: RBR chuckled and used them anyway.. They still have the duct inside the nose, it violates the intention of the rule but is legal technically. Of course the severity of the punishment is a clear sign: FIA just showed that no more of that bullshit, RBR has to start respecting rules.

If there is a button the the steering wheel that gives an extra 100hp for overtaking by whatever method, I'm willing to call it push to pass. I expect that hitting the button would switch the engine to a high power torque mapping, use the MGU-H to spool up the turbo faster, and give a MGU-K boost exactly like last year's KERS button. I would also expect that not every team uses a steering wheel button for this function, but if Williams called it "push to pass" over the radio, I expect that they do. You could also have a separate engine mapping to do the same thing, and I expect that probably some teams do.

The RBR infringement was a bit more complicated than that. The FIA sensor was giving them inaccurate readings (it was reading high), and the FIA told them to apply an offset to the sensor values. They chose to use another method to ensure they weren't exceeding the 100kg/hr limit, and were excluded on the grounds that they had not sought permission from the FIA to do so and that it is not within their discretion to run a different fuel flow measurement method without the permission of the FIA.

I expect their appeal will be on the grounds that they did not in fact exceed the limit, and gained no advantage from their actions... and despite Christian Horner's level of confidence it could go either way. The last report I heard was that although they have lodged their intention to appeal, they have not yet actually tabled the appeal (but have a few more hours to do so).

Actually Mercedes were warned about the same issue. They chose to turn down their engines a bit to avoid the problem.

Formula one has been about getting around the rules at least since the 80s, and RBR have been very good at it. The camera mounting is very much in the category of satisfies the letter of the law, but very much goes against the spirit. I like the approach of using the camera mount as an extra wing actually (is it only the one team who did this?).