4 - NOT A SINGLE DROP OF OIL…
Following last year's oil-for-fuel controversy there will be tighter controls on oil consumption this season. The FIA suspected some engine manufacturers of burning oil to increase the performance of their powertrain. The governing body has come up with a set of binding measures:
1) Permitted oil consumption remains unchanged from the amount set in September 2017 at 0.6 litres per 100km.
2) The teams must allow the FIA to know at any time the level of the main oil tank (via a sensor). The levels of the other oil tanks will not be monitored in real time, but must be communicated one hour before the start of the race.
3) Last year, the engineers took advantage of a provision of the regulation which made it possible to evacuate the oil vapour from the crankcase by injecting it into the air box by means of valves (because this steam must be evacuated). Their trick? Use this - then legal - mechanism to inject another oil specification, rich in additives optimizing combustion, and burn it. To put a stop to this, a new article 7.9 prohibits the use of control valves between any part of the engine and the air box.
4) The new article 20 mandates that each team declare the oil specification that it uses in each engine. A numbered sample, detailing the composition of the lubricant, must be submitted to the FIA before each event.
More importantly, during a Grand Prix, the teams can only use one type of oil per engine. This provision is fundamental because some engine manufacturers - Mercedes and Ferrari - were suspected of injecting another formulation (containing prohibited additives into the gasoline composition) for qualifying.
5) The wary FIA has also banned the burning of any substance other than gasoline and air
6) Finally, article 5.6.8 requires air in the airbox to be 10°C warmer than the ambient air temperature. This provision, which imposes a minimum temperature, suggests some engine manufacturers cooled the air below the ambient temperature, for reasons of performance and reliability.
By installing sensors everywhere on the engine, the FIA seeks to understand more precisely what engine manufacturers are doing, in the likely hope of gradually equalizing performance by banning certain findings.
