Renault engine chief Denis Chevrier explains the key challenges the Suzuka circuit in Japan will pose to F1 engineers next weekend. "At Suzuka, the engine's role is two-fold: not only must it provide plenty of power and good torque, but its characteristics have a big role to play in terms of maintaining the car balance through the corners and preserving the chassis handling," he explains.
"The circuit is characterised by the high average engine speeds we see, which are among the top five of the season," Chevrier adds. "In general at Suzuka, the car is either in high-speed corners or accelerating to high gears out of the slower turns, such as the hairpin or the chicane, which means the average revs are in the high range. This factor, as well as a sixteen second full throttle burst from Spoon Curve to braking for the chicane, means that the fuel consumption at this track is the second highest of the year."
"The long corners at this circuit, as well as the sequence behind the pits, place severe demands on the chassis balance. The engine has a key role to play in these corners, as it must be as smooth and progressive as possible in the transition phases between the turns. Equally, we work to achieve the smoothest possible gearchanges so that the car balance is not disturbed. Everything in the engine's operation must be as fluid as possible: any brutality will be punished in the final lap-time."
"Indeed, when preparing the engine for the race, we work hard to ensure the driver is assisted as much as possible in this task by the way the engine and gearbox are configured. Through a section like the Esses, we select the gear ratios in order to put the engine in the best part of its power band during the short accelerations between each corner. In this context, a wide power band can be a definite advantage as it may allow the sequence to be driven without needing to change down, thus once more preserving the car balance."
"Finally, poor weather is always a possibility at Suzuka. These conditions always favour the good engine driveability that we have already said is necessary for other reasons at this difficult circuit."
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