At the end of 2013 F1 bid farewell to its normally aspirated V8s and embraced brand new power units that combined a hybrid V6 turbo engine with two energy recovery systems - the MGU-K that works under braking, and MGU-H which harvests energy at the exhaust. Monza 2014 offered an ideal opportunity to compare and analyse the performance of modern low downforce-spec F1 cars with their previous counterparts.

The recent Grand Prix emphasised an important point: the 2014 regulations have greatly enhanced the cars' efficiency while maintaining - and even increasing - their level of performance.

Renault takes a look at the main gains.

A two-second gain in a single year

2013 saw F1 cars fitted with normally aspirated V8s delivering around 800bhp (that's 590kW without the extra 60kW provided by the KERS). Monza's speed traps recorded single-seaters clock around 340kph, with pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel posting a lap of 1:23.755 in qualifying aboard his Infiniti Red Bull Racing-Renault. A year later the fastest Q3 time was 1:24.109, achieved with a car weighing 50kg heavier - a 1.8secs deficit - and using harder tyres. Once these differences have been accounted for and the times corrected, this year's lap represents a two-second gain over the course of 12 months.

Fuel consumption down to 1.9kg per lap

The 2014 regulations also brought another revolution with a 35% reduction in the amount of fuel permitted for each race (100kg against 150kg last year). It's been made possible thanks to the V6 engine's high degree of hybridisation: 20% of the power is now electric and comes from the energy recovered under braking and harvested at the exhaust. The average Monza consumption rate therefore went from 2.5kg per lap in 2013 to under 1.9kg a lap this year. With the same mass, the corrected 2014 time is faster.

An F1 car's energy source distribution

2013: The vast majority of energy available came from the 160kg of fuel used by the car. Power generated by fossil energy and transferred to the wheels reached 30%, while the remainder escaped in the air. A single KERS unit also ensured the share of electric power remained quite limited.

2014: With a 100kg restriction in fuel mass, the share of electric power has grown significantly. A greater percentage is now transferred to the wheels, which vastly improves the overall energy efficiency. Electric energy is much more important (4MJ) than it was last year. It comes from two different sources: braking and the exhaust.

Better energy efficiency

In 2013 an F1 car's efficiency was rated at 30%, which has increased to 40% in 2014. This has been made possible by reducing the internal combustion engine's displacement (and amount of friction), the introduction of a turbocompressor, and cutting the number of revs (from 18,000 to 13,000). The efficiency of a car fitted with an internal combustion engine cannot exceed 50%. Only a fully electric engine can achieve a much higher efficiency. To do so, however, requires 25 tons of batteries!

Additional stats and facts

30% fuel mass reduction between 2013 and 2014.
10 points: the efficiency improvement of an F1 car between 2013 and 2014.
In qualifying, the 25kg battery delivers an extra 10% of energy, which amounts to 200g in fuel.
While overtaking during the race, Daniel Ricciardo's Infiniti Red Bull Racing-Renault reached 362.1kph, smashing the 2013 top speed by an impressive 20kph.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by SideGlance, 19/09/2014 5:13

"'Efficiency' is such a hard thing to quantify & I suspect the 2014 are NOT much more/any more efficient IF the 2013 could have harvested ALL the energy possible (KERS) and use whenever available (2014 still could use this too).

I did a rough calculation of a typical length track and estimated about 2megawatts or so of available/potential energy recovery, minus of course tech shortcomings and actual use.

I am VERY skeptical that a race series beyond an all electric series should worry about efficiency, seems TOO artificial.

If efficiency was REALLY the target, it would need to be a Diesel Turbo/hybrid system NOT gasoline much like LeMans series.

IIRC, we owe most of this non-sense to Renault who was considering pulling out if no hybrid power unit, and yet they were least prepared (multiple teams hurt them on this).

I absolutely ** HATE ** the dreadful/low tech sound of 2014 (diesel truck races sound better!!), even worse than the flatulent 2011-2012 years of exhaust boosting on deceleration.

Nice tech challenge, awful spectator solution!"

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2. Posted by nonickname, 18/09/2014 11:59

"A final thought. I bet that the carbon footprint generated by the lighting for the Singapore race is greater than the entire saving bought about by the new power units"

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3. Posted by nonickname, 18/09/2014 6:36

"Hi there miss d't,
sorry but you are wrong . Most of the new technology is being passed from the road cars to the f1 teams. That is why the factory input is so huge."

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4. Posted by TheBucketOfTruth, 17/09/2014 20:23

"Once completed, I'd love to see what the actual carbon impact is of the entire 2014 season compared to previous seasons. I'd venture to guess it isn't much different at all. The one exception is that with fewer fans attending each race weekend, they may have actually brought their impact down a measurable amount. Perhaps their "green" initiatives have fostered results after all."

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5. Posted by miss d'it, 17/09/2014 20:13

"Haha, despite the doom and gloom merchants tales of woe about smaller engines, taxi rides etc, we have faster cars than last year, with smaller engines and heavier cars.
Once again F1 as the pinnacle of motorsport leads the way in automobile advancement. Very fuel efficient engines and a massive advance in hybrid technology, will once again filter down to the family car, as anti-lock brakes etc have in the past.
This has always happened in the past, and after a lull of a couple of years, has done so again.

Yes the noise is somewhat restrained, but whats the bet, the teams are working on for next years cars."

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6. Posted by nonickname, 17/09/2014 14:51

"And they sound terrible.
If F1 wanted to go green they could do a better job by ditching half of their transporters and not flying to far parts of the world to run races in empty and boring stadiums.They could cut staff by half and save on electricity.
Now the support races sound better the 'the pinicael of motorsport'
"

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The efficiency race

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