POWERTRAIN MANAGEMENT

[PPeach]

ok so i just hit the halfway point of my f1 season and i have had to buy 2 ERS, have only a single gearbox that's race worthy between two cars, and i'm gonna need to buy a new engine in the next 3 races probably (assuming no crashing)

so essentially i'm asking for tips here to reduce wear through the season without costing performance. i'm currently in the drivers and constructors lead but not by so much that i can afford to take +10 grid penalties throughout the the last half of the season x.x

i have considered that it's maybe i'm doing practice sessions without avoiding high risk kerbs and driving in clean air, but the level of wear seems drastic for simply using my car in practice sessions. (i have also noticed i typically do more laps than my competitors but if i do fewer laps i'm sacrificing car set up % or track knowledge %)

thanks for anyone who provides tips and hopefully this post becomes helpful for someone :3

[WhattyWhatWhat81]

HI, I've just raised a related thread about fuel load. I think I have been going about it the wrong way and over-fuelling, to run high engine mode. This will kill the powertrain items.

Suggestion:
- run practice avoiding kerbs and running in clean air
- run practice in management mode. Much quicker to get the right set-up and costs fewer laps on the powertrain
- in a race, reduce fuel load by around 10% and conserve fuel. Car should be lighter and less impact on powertrain in conserve fuel mode.
- when powertrains become worn, use them for practise and swap out for fresher items in qualy/race mode - no penalty unless you exceed the allowance
- Identify weak tracks for your team and run any purchased powertains there 1st (I usually swap out all 3 of the engine, ERS and gearbox so I get 1 big grid place hit at a poor track)
- if a race is 'lost' - i.e. you can't possible perform and gets points etc. consider retiring a car to avoid needing to buy new powertrains. I only do this late in the season when it really will avoid a new engine for little reason.

Hope this helps, but I'm still tweaking stuff myself

[WhattyWhatWhat81]

a quick update. I ran a race with significant underfueling. The car was more competitive and secured points. Using the new powertrain items for qualy and the race, each dropped off by less than 5%... when using high-engine mode it was about 18%.

Hope this helps

[SKAFT]

Originalmente postado por WhattyWhatWhat81:

HI, I've just raised a related thread about fuel load. I think I have been going about it the wrong way and over-fuelling, to run high engine mode. This will kill the powertrain items.

Suggestion:
- run practice avoiding kerbs and running in clean air
- run practice in management mode. Much quicker to get the right set-up and costs fewer laps on the powertrain
- in a race, reduce fuel load by around 10% and conserve fuel. Car should be lighter and less impact on powertrain in conserve fuel mode.
- when powertrains become worn, use them for practise and swap out for fresher items in qualy/race mode - no penalty unless you exceed the allowance
- Identify weak tracks for your team and run any purchased powertains there 1st (I usually swap out all 3 of the engine, ERS and gearbox so I get 1 big grid place hit at a poor track)
- if a race is 'lost' - i.e. you can't possible perform and gets points etc. consider retiring a car to avoid needing to buy new powertrains. I only do this late in the season when it really will avoid a new engine for little reason.

Hope this helps, but I'm still tweaking stuff myself

very useful tips, tnx

[mwalker754]

As you haven't mentioned it are you running practise using minimum pace and fuel settings? Also you can use ERS all the way down to 1% and gearbox and engine down to around 12% safely in practise.
During a race if you are at a stage where the car behind wont catch you turn pace and fuel down.
Apologies if you were already aware of this :)

[WhattyWhatWhat81]

Originalmente postado por mwalker754:

As you haven't mentioned it are you running practise using minimum pace and fuel settings? Also you can use ERS all the way down to 1% and gearbox and engine down to around 12% safely in practise.
During a race if you are at a stage where the car behind wont catch you turn pace and fuel down.
Apologies if you were already aware of this :)

All good points. Thought I had mentioned the pace and fuel settings in practise... but nope! I missed them :D

Good to get some % figures on how long you can run down the powertrain in practice. I use old kit, but not been brave enough to go that low yet... will give it a whirl

[PPeach]

Ive tested out pace already and it has no impact on powertrain wear. I ran my drivers parallel in as close to the same car as possible across 3 practices with each car 1 being 1 stage higher than car 2 and the engine, ers and gearbox wear was equal.

I have not tested this on fuel usage, but so far tyres have had 0 impact on decreasing the wear. I have been shuffling my powertrain around for practice and quali/race and it's been going a bit better. having only two ERS is really rough though as I've never made it to the mid way of a season without seeing at least one car totalled by a crashed...(the last crash was Ocon locking up behind me and destroying car 1 x.x completely unavoidable by me unless i had future sight and let ocon pass me a lap before lol)

[PPeach]

follow up, i've just watched my car with less fuel use wear it's powertrain faster. this leads me to believe that the fuel and tyre strategies are separate from powertrain wear. the variable here is the drivers and it would make more sense that Alex Albon would be able to drive the car gentler? than a rookie like Theo Pourchaire. this is also a similar experience i've had in my AM playthrough where Lancelot has been ruining car parts at a significantly higher pace than Nando.

I will continue moving forward using the avoid kerbs and drive in clean air on practice sessions as this has had an incredible impact on reducing my engine wear. I have also been contemplating the strategy of swapping powertrain parts to the highest % for qualifiers and this strategy i think is important only for certain teams and certain tracks. IE Alpha Tauri isn't gonna magically make q3 because i gave Yuki and Nyck the highest % powertrain parts. whereas it might be important on a track like Monaco where quali position is commonly race position (hard to pass on monaco and you can easily DNF if you try lol)

another thing i've been implementing is avoid kerbs during races I am aware I won't be getting points in. example Alfa Romeo, you've got a driver in Bottas who can stretch out and reach point positions, and then you have Zhou who cannot do so and is commonly the back marker. in this case I will leave Zhou on a no kerbs, no battle assist, just get the car across the line at race end. and Bottas I will allow kerbs and battle assist and ERS deploy IF it appears there is a chance to cross the line in the points with the stock Alfa you're hard pressed for this to happen but still the idea remains the same with other teams. I could apply this to my Aston Martin playthrough and assign Lance to play it safer when finishing in the bottom half of points where the point gap is smaller and the payoff for pushing the car less, compared to Alonso who's typically making the podium.

TL;DR tyre and fuel strategy doesn't seem to impact powertrain wear whatsoever, driver stats (i would assume things like smoothness and control, maybe braking) will have impact on the powertrain wear, as well as avoiding high risk kerbs, driving in clean air, and not having any lockups, spins, crashes. and the important tip (probably important) hidden in the post is; set avoid kerbs and drive in clean air for all practice sessions when lap time is not important.

EDIT; i've also noticed from testing that my rookie wears out tyres WAY faster on the same strategy and same car so that leads me to believe that stats like braking, smoothness, cornering, etc have an impact on the wear and tear of your car.

[Goul]

the cooling has effect on Engine wear and the Engine modes have effect on Temperature. In a car with bad cooling, higher modes means higher Temps and go over the ability to cool the Engine. Thus increased Engine Wear.
A Car with great cooling can do higher Temps without increasing Wear.
Also Air Temperature, diffrent Tracks with diffrent Air Temperature will generate diffrent Spikes in Engine Temps and diffrent average Temps.

Also, diffrent Engine Manufacturers have diffrent resilience to Temp and Wear.

And yes, the driver has an effect on Wear too. The game just does a Terrrible Job at giving you the necessary info to find out.

When watching the engine Temps during a race, you see the Temperature is colour coded, but, the number going Red only means its high. It doesnt mean its to high for your car.
If i remember correct, no matter how good or Bad your cooling is, the number changes to Red at a certain number. The number going red is no indicator that your Enginge takes damage.

Running clean air loweres wear because it lowers the Engine Temps.
Pace setting dont effect Engine Wear directly, its indirect through Engine Temps. Aggressive Pace means you are running hotter.
Engine modes dont affect Engine Wear directly, same as Pace settings.

Imporoving the cooling of your car in development and research lets you take a more Sensible Engine and drive it more Aggressive.
Bad cooling means Renault or Mercedes Engine is better for you, having great cooling opens Ferrari and Red Bull Engine as Viable options without having to nurse the more Sensible Engines over the Season.

[FunDhu]

Originalmente postado por PPeach:

follow up, i've just watched my car with less fuel use wear it's powertrain faster. this leads me to believe that the fuel and tyre strategies are separate from powertrain wear.

I thought fuel use was separate from powertrain wear. it wouldn't make sense but the ingame tips don't equate fuel and wear in that way. i'm going to try your advice, and looking at advice above i've probably been playing this game all wrong. no wonder i hit cost cap every season

[PPeach]

Originalmente postado por FunDhu:

Originalmente postado por PPeach:

follow up, i've just watched my car with less fuel use wear it's powertrain faster. this leads me to believe that the fuel and tyre strategies are separate from powertrain wear.

I thought fuel use was separate from powertrain wear. it wouldn't make sense but the ingame tips don't equate fuel and wear in that way. i'm going to try your advice, and looking at advice above i've probably been playing this game all wrong. no wonder i hit cost cap every season

i don't think there's a right or wrong way to play :3 but there's maybe an optimal way to manage your way through the seasons! from further investigation the reason my powertrain wear was the increased on the car with lower fuel consumption was actually linked to the driver ability and not the car strategy. upon further digging i noticed that my car powertrain does in fact hit higher temps when using more aggressive tyre strategy and likewise with fuel consumption. as mentioned earlier in the thread by someone else, the actual amount of high heat your powertrain can handle comes down to your cooling stats but higher powertrain temps will lead to faster powertrain wear.

[Drysyn]

RBR's power train units are trash, after just 3 races (Sim'd Practice sessions and quali's no crashes) my PTU's are down to 65-70% already, no way I will make it through a season without buying replacements lol

[PPeach]

Originalmente postado por Drysyn:

RBR's power train units are trash, after just 3 races (Sim'd Practice sessions and quali's no crashes) my PTU's are down to 65-70% already, no way I will make it through a season without buying replacements lol

I have noticed the RB engines wear a bit faster however they are the highest performing engines on the grid and is kinda the only reason alpha tauri is even able to race the other teams from the get go :3

if you don't like the wear and tear iirc the mercedes engines (mercedes, aston martin, mclaren?, williams all use the mercedes engine) are very durable.

[Drysyn]

Originalmente postado por PPeach:

Originalmente postado por Drysyn:

RBR's power train units are trash, after just 3 races (Sim'd Practice sessions and quali's no crashes) my PTU's are down to 65-70% already, no way I will make it through a season without buying replacements lol

I have noticed the RB engines wear a bit faster however they are the highest performing engines on the grid and is kinda the only reason alpha tauri is even able to race the other teams from the get go :3

if you don't like the wear and tear iirc the mercedes engines (mercedes, aston martin, mclaren?, williams all use the mercedes engine) are very durable.

Yeah I normally go for mercedes but their acceleration isn't that good, but at least I can make 3 engines last a full season, (only have to buy a new ERS for both cars) but with red bull I won't even get 18 rounds out of all of the power units period... next season i'll be back to merc...

[PPeach]

Originalmente postado por Drysyn:

Originalmente postado por PPeach:

I have noticed the RB engines wear a bit faster however they are the highest performing engines on the grid and is kinda the only reason alpha tauri is even able to race the other teams from the get go :3

if you don't like the wear and tear iirc the mercedes engines (mercedes, aston martin, mclaren?, williams all use the mercedes engine) are very durable.

Yeah I normally go for mercedes but their acceleration isn't that good, but at least I can make 3 engines last a full season, (only have to buy a new ERS for both cars) but with red bull I won't even get 18 rounds out of all of the power units period... next season i'll be back to merc...

i am almost never in the flagship cars so i see RBR engines in alpha tauri where it's less impactful to miss 1 race replacing all your powertrain stuff :3 i can still see why it's frustrating you though. I believe there was a tip earlier in the thread about replacing all your powertrain stuff at the same race so you suffer only 1 race of -10 grid spots x.x

[Drysyn]

Oh I don't mind the grid penalties, when my cars are fast enough can just cut through the grid anyways, it's the extra cost to buy emergency parts, especially since most of the teams thought it would be a good idea to reduce the cost cap by 5 millions, finished season 1 with 9.9 million left just buying 2 ERS Units... this season it's going to hurt^^