Cowell: Mercedes have benefitted from “our Formula E development”

Mercedes head of engine development, Andy Cowell, has said that their Formula 1 team has benefitted from its Formula E counterpart in improving its hybrid system for the 2020 season.

The Silver Arrows, named Mercedes-Benz EQ in FE, debuted in the electric series at the end of November last year with Stoffel Vandoorne finishing third in the first two races at the Diriyah ePrix.
 
Cowell says that some of the development that the FE side have done has been fed back to the F1 team ahead of the 2020 season.
 
“Formula E is a fascinating championship with the electric machine as the only device propelling the car,” he said at the Mercedes W11 launch, quoted by GrandPrix247.

“Therefore, the efficiencies of that electric machine, the inverter and all the control systems are paramount, and the torque accuracy delivery is crucial.

“Some of the development learning there has now fed back into Formula One, so from Melbourne this year, our Formula 1 hybrid system will benefit from our Formula E development work.”

The Silver Arrows started out the V6 turbo-hybrid era with a clear power advantage back in 2014, with rivals taking a few years to catch up and challenge them.

But Cowell states that recent years have been tougher having to deal with engine cooling issues, something they are focusing on this year.

“At the beginning of last year, the cooling capacity of our car was insufficient, which resulted in some challenging races,” he admitted.

“For this year, we are putting significant effort into making sure that all the cooling fluids on the Power Unit operate at a higher temperature.

“This increases the temperature difference between that coolant fluid and the ambient temperature that we are racing in, which increases the effectiveness of the cooling system.

“That’s a tough challenge though, because large parts of the engine are made from aluminium and the temperatures that we are operating at mean the material properties are decaying quite rapidly.

“Managing that over an eight-race distance Power Unit cycle is a tough engineering challenge, but that’s what we are striving for.”