Renault pushes FIA to enforce oil burn restrictions
- Published on 02 Mar 2018 12:02
-
- By: Rob Veenstra
Renault hopes F1's governing body continues to push to ensure rival manufacturers are not using oil to boost their engines. The French outfit successfully lobbied for tighter rules to enforce the thorny topic.
"Much has been done in relation to these loopholes, but we continue to collaborate with the FIA to ensure they have the tools to monitor them properly," Cyril Abiteboul is quoted by Ekstra Bladet newspaper. "So it's not just about good rules but also how to monitor them. I'm sure the rules are clear, but I'm not sure yet about the FIA's capacity to monitor them."
However, Renault itself was apparently the subject of a separate complaint over the winter, apparently from a customer team which suspected it was not being treated fairly regarding engine supply. "It's a concern for customer teams and for good reason. They should be treated equally and we've always done that in our 40 years as an engine supplier," Abiteboul insisted.
"But we must also accept that there will always be small differences. For example Red Bull has another partner so they use different fuel and oil. But we didn't force them to and so they could have used our partner," he added. (GMM)
1
Replies (8)
Login to replyajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
Anyone burning oil this year should get serious sanctions. No excuses after last year.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Fully agree. And this year, the restrictions should apply to everybody from the get go. If one supplier is restricted, the rest should be aswell. No vague "upgrade or lose oil burning or retain old spec and burn oil all you like".
RogerF1
Posts: 501
I can’t help feeling this comes down to fundamentals of the bore coating technologies now employed, (look up plasma bore coating). There are technical and process limitations to controlling the porosity levels and hence oil retention in these coatings and I think this could be a factor. Changing coating morphology produced by your preferred coating method to retain less oil and reduce oil burning is not easy without a lot of development time or compromise to bore wear/increased friction, ever more so important with reduced number of PU’s. But that said, this has to be a level playing field and take the hit if you can’t comply, whatever the reason.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I actually thought last year's regulation clamp down would almost completely rid F1 of oil burning. But shame on me I guess. I wonder if this really will affect the oil burners that much though.
RogerF1
Posts: 501
Yep I was surprised by this article it sort of infers Renault are not sure the ruling is water (not oil) tight. I wonder if the supposed advantage to “oil burners” was more from reduced friction to get more hp than from the combustion power from the actual burning oil.
Come on guys, have you EVER been overtaken by a smoke belching old banger!! Te he.
f1ski
Posts: 726
it the oil burning allows leaner mixtures which allows more power better mileage but the risk of burning metal where the mixtures are leaner than ideal. The bore coating allowing a heavier coat of oil to burn instead of metal is just genius. The oil doesn't itself generate more HP.
boudy
Posts: 1,168
They allowed to burn less but they will still burn. I feel that the fia should have added an more specific rule which states they aren't allowed to lose oil at a rate higher than the average rate and no device must be in place that can increase the burning limit. Or stating that the oil must have an negative impact on burning efficiency of their petrol. Either way i think that the fia did not show that they are interested in blocking this practice.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I mean, they will basically have to still be able to burn some oil (AFAIK its impossible not to?), but I got the impression that they had clamped down on using it to improve power, be it directly or indirectly. The FIA, like many political organs, need to be more specific and efficient.