Idling: Who Cares?

Normally you'd think that last thing that would be interesting is an F1 car at idle. However the current qualifying format has changed certain strategies, which have in turn created problems that have unique technical solutions.

During Q3, the third period of qualifying, the cars circulate the track at speed, trying to burn off as much fuel as possible. As we've discussed, an F1 car is generally faster in 'clean' air than running close behind another car. So what should you do? Since you get fuel credit for each lap you run, if you're really keen on your strategy you may be able to run 1-2 more laps than everyone else, thus burning off more fuel (making the car faster for the last lap of qualifying) and also gaining extra fuel to put back into the car to start the race.

So to get clean air and the maximum possible number of laps in, you want to have your car first onto the track when Q3 starts. So the teams start to line up at the pit exit line early, waiting for the green light. Only one problem with this; F1 cars don't like to sit still.

Normally a regular car's engine has no problem idling, afterall, its designed to. But an F1 engine generates a tremendous amount of power and subsequently heat. It also idles at around 4,000 rpm, much higher than the leisurely 800-900 rpms a street car turns. The car's radiators will easily cool the car, however F1 cars don't have fan's to pull air through the radiator. Fans aren't necessary if the car is moving, and they're a liable to break or imped airflow at speed so they're naturally left off an F1 car. Which brings up a real problem: how do we get our car first in line to get on track and not have it overheat while we wait?

Way back in 1981 Cadillac introduced a mouthful of an engine; the "V8-6-4 (L62)". The part that's important is the V8-6-4. This was the first engine with 'displacement-on-demand' or the ability to turn from a V8 into a V6 into a V4 all electronically. The engine normally worked as a V8 eight cylinder engine, but would deactivate varying cylinders when the engine wasn't working hard, like on the highway, to get better fuel mileage.

It didn't really work out that well and GM eventually withdrew the technology. My neighbor growing up had a car with one of these engines. I always remember it because it had a novel (for the time) talking car module. It would say things like "Door is ajar. Door is ajar." whenever a door was opened or "Fasten seat belts please." Quite annoying actually. Anyway, this guy had so much trouble with the engine that eventually the service center had a GM engineer come out with his suitcase-sized 'laptop' to diagnose the issue.

Later GM did get this technology to work, and they used it on the 'Premium V' engine initially as a failsafe mechanism to save the engine if all the coolant was drained. The coolant (aka 'anti-freeze') is the water/ethylene glycol mixture that circulates inside of the engine block, carrying heat away to the radiator, cooling, and running back into the block again. (The glycol keeps the water from freezing when its cold out). Without coolant, the engine overheats, causing all sorts of warping and general nastiness that quickly results in a useless lump. The point is: by cutting out varying cylinders and running the engine like a V4, the engine does not produce as much heat and can actually cool itself simply with air.

F1 engineers are a clever bunch and resurrected this trick for their own cause. So now you know. Those glorious V8 F1 engines are, at least for the few minutes they wait to exit pit-lane, really just 1.2L 4-cylinder engines.

Which brings up an interesting point. At the 2007 European Grand Prix, after a dry start, torrential rain covered the first corner by lap 3. Six (yes that's right, six world-class drivers) went off the track in turn 1, including one Lewis Hamilton. It was comical. Conditions were so bad that the remaining cars, on full-wet tires, couldn't even keep up with the safety car. The race was red flagged until the rain subsided. However of the cars off in turn 1, only Lewis Hamilton rejoined the race, although several others were undamaged. The reason? He was the only one who kept his engine running. The other cars either stalled or didn't have the software to allow the engine to idle for a long period while the cars were extracted by crane from the gravel-trap. But Hamilton immediately got on his radio asking his engineer what to do so he could engage the idle mode and save his race. Smart lad!