Lewis Hamilton says that the new rules this year make Formula 1 “ridiculously complex” and that “none of the fans are going to understand it”.
The seven-time champion was referring to the increased degree of energy management required by the new engines, which have a near 50-50 power split between internal combustion engine and electrical components.
Briton Hamilton, speaking after driving the Ferrari on the first morning of this week’s pre-season test in Bahrain, said: “I sat in a meeting the other day and they’re taking us through it. And yeah, it’s like you need a degree to fully understand it all.”
The rules have set up a situation where the engines are energy starved most of the time, and teams and drivers have to maximise the amount of energy recovery they do.
This has led to unusual technical strategies and driving techniques.
These will include not going flat out exiting a corner before starting a qualifying lap, and backing off on the straights to conserve energy.
There are four kinds of energy recovery:
- Regenerative braking, where the motor recovers energy while slowing for a corner
- Part-throttle overload, where the battery takes power from the engine in parts of the track where the driver does not need full throttle, such as cornering, where engines may run at high revs when a driver is not on the power
- Lift and coast – lifting off before corners so the electric motor can run against the engine
- ‘Superclip’ – the electronic control unit diverts energy to the battery when the driver is still at full throttle on the straight
These are all complicated by the fact that the drivers can operate a ‘boost’ button for extra power to facilitate an overtake, but then risk being short of power and vulnerable to being re-passed on the following straight.
Hamilton said: “If you look at Barcelona, for example, we’re doing 600 metres lift and coast on a qualifying lap. That’s not what racing is about. Here (in Bahrain), we’re not having to do that because there’s lots of braking zones.”
Drivers will also have to use lower gears than they would like to help with energy recovery.
Hamilton added: “The low gears that we have to go down into is just because we can’t recover enough battery power.
“We can’t recover enough battery power, so that’s why we have to go and rev the engines very, very, very high. So we’re going down to second and first in some places just to try to recover that extra bit of power.”
Hamilton’s comments should be seen in the context that the teams are just beginning to learn about their new cars, and they will not be seen in anger until the start of the season.
It is also the case that some of these energy management strategies, such as lift and coast, were already being used last year, with the previous engines.
Rulemakers are likely to give the rules some time to settle down before jumping to conclusions or making knee-jerk reactions. (BBC News)
