Did an FIA launch procedure problem hamper Ferrari-powered cars in Oz?

[AustinF1]

Did an FIA launch procedure problem hamper Ferrari-powered cars in Australian GP?

There's an Italian article out now suggesting that some or all of the Ferrari PUs were working in sort of a "safe mode" for at least the first several laps of the race in Oz. Seems like this could at least partially explain the PU lack of power.

http://www.omnicorse.it/magazine/35940/editoriale-f1-clamoroso-ferrari-senza-kers-per-colpa-della-fia

In a nutshell, the FIA controls the MGUK on cars to activate only after the cars have reached 100kmh during the start of the race. It's in the regulations (or so the article says). It turns out that this "launch" setting was not deactivated on all Ferrari powered cars until after a few laps, making Ferrari teams unable to use the MUGK. After it was reactivated, the hybrid system was running in a protective mode that requires the driver to follow a procedure to bring up the electric motors. Alonso could not do it until the first pit stop, so he was without some or all ERS power for 33s a lap until then, according to the article. Kimi had issues with the DRS on top of that.

I don't know if this story is true or not, but Ferrari has been consistent since the GP in saying that they were not able to use their full ERS power during the race, and it was clear that they had no power for overtaking. If the ERS on the #14 car was running in a sort of "safe mode", that could very well be consistent with the results.

[NickHolt]

Racing just doesn't seem to be racing anymore at this level. It has become some sort of "Climate Change Regulation Test Bed" deal. Gotta love politics, but all the new rules don't seem to be working out too well for many, including the F1 fan base.

 

NASCAR started fooling with the rules to "make racing better" and has been on a downhill slide ever since. F1 looks like it's following them down the tubes...

 

I would rather go to a backwoods Texas dirt track on Saturday night than spend the entire weekend sipping wine and watching a bunch of human computer terminals pretend to race at a F1 "event."

 

Nick

[AustinF1]

Yeah they had a pretty nice V8 formula when they decided to change it to something more "relevant" to road cars in order to attract more big manufacturers. And so far, it's not gone well, imho...to put it mildly. I really have no problem with the V6 config. I'm sure they'd produce massive amounts of power with higher rev limits, and they'd probably sound great minus the turbos and heat recovery systems muffling the exhaust. Eve conventional KERS harvesting brake energy is fine. Just get rid of the silly fuel flow restriction, raise the rev limits, lose the heat recovery at the minimum, and get back to racing.