(Renault Sport F1)
Renault Sport F1 head to this weekend's Italian Grand Prix in Monza, the last race of the European leg of the season having powered Infiniti Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo to his second victory of succession following wins at the Hungarian and Belgian Grand Prix. Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel finished the race in fifth place.
Scuderia Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat picked up another point's finish as he ended the race in 9th place having starting the race in eleventh place.
The Lotus F1 Team had a difficult weekend at the Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa Francorchamps circuit as neither Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean failed to finish the race. Speaking ahead of this weekend's race at the Monza circuit Renault Sport F1's head of track operations Remi Taffin commented by saying:
'After the challenges of Spa we go to Monza, another big ‘power track’. We go there in a more optimistic and confident frame of mind after taking the win in Belgium – a track where we were expected to be on the back foot. We recognize that it took a cocktail of circumstances to come through, but that should not take anything away from the fact we showed good pace and were there to take advantage of the situation.
We have a similar mindset for Monza. It’s undoubtedly the fastest track of the year, with four long periods of wide open throttle and over three quarters of the lap taken flat out. There are three periods where the Power Units will be at full throttle for roughly 13 secs each, plus the main straight where it is flat out for 17secs, longer than a drag strip. This year speeds will be even higher and we expect to see them peaking at over 350kph, the highest speed of the year so far and at least 10kph more than 2013. For these reasons, the ICE will come under huge pressure here and it’s likely we’ll use fresh parts where we can, both for performance and reliability.
The other components of the PUs will be less solicited. The turbo, for instance, will have an easier time since it will not turn at such high speeds down the straights. With just a couple of corners the MGU-K will likewise be a touch underused: each braking event is just over two seconds so there’s not enough time or energy dispersed to totally recharge the battery. Equally the drivers run the kerbs as much as possible to straight line them, so further losing potential energy harvesting opportunities. To compensate, the MGU-K will be recovering energy at partial throttle through overloading the ICE. The MGU-H will also feed the MGU-K down the straights.
All in all, we know it’s a tough prospect and we do go there as underdogs, but as Montreal and Spa both showed we can run with the baton when it’s passed to us. It’s just what we need to do in Monza as well – concentrate on the job in hand and be ready if or when something happens, starting from the green light.'
© Ben Johnston 2014
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