Red Bull will need to change its engine mapping

This Sunday, during the German Grand Prix, the usual tranquility of a race day morning was disturbed by a report from Jo Bauer, the FIA technical delegate responsible for overseeing technical inspections. The issue at hand was the engine mappings used by the two Red Bull RB8s, driven by Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.

The engine mapping is a simple set of values, stored in the electronic control unit (ECU) common to all teams, which describes the correspondence between the position of the accelerator pedal and the engine speed on one hand, and the engine operation on the other (fuel injection, ignition, air intake). In the case of Red Bull, the mappings were suspected of contradicting article 5.5.3 of the technical regulations, which roughly specifies that the “full throttle” position should correspond to the maximum torque the engine can deliver at a given speed. Jo Bauer, for his part, had noted that the capacities requested from the engine at certain speeds during previous races were much higher than at Hockenheim, which led him to think that the mappings were in violation of this article.

Not respecting this rule is equivalent to simulating a simplified anti-skid system: even when fully pressing the pedal, as the engine is not used to its maximum capacity, the chances of the rear wheels skidding are drastically reduced. The driver can then exit a corner without worrying about adjusting the throttle, which also has the advantage of saving fuel and putting less strain on the rear tires. Furthermore, under certain conditions, this can also allow for better exhaust blowing, which has been crucial for the aerodynamic performance of single-seaters since 2011.

Finally, the verdict delivered by the stewards cleared the Austrian team, the mapping used not contradicting the terms used in the incriminated article, which does not prohibit engine capacities from being changed from one race to another. However, this decision left little ambiguity about future events: Even though the stewards did not accept all the team’s arguments, they concluded that, as the regulations are written, the engine mapping did not contravene the text of Article 5.5.3 of the Formula 1 technical regulations and therefore decided not to go further, indicated the corresponding FIA document, which left little doubt about an upcoming clarification of the regulations.

This clarification was made according to Autosport, and although the details are not yet known, it will be in place from the Hungarian Grand Prix taking place this weekend. Red Bull will have to return to the mappings used at Silverstone at best, or at worst design a new one in collaboration with Renault. For information, this is the third forced modification on the RB8 this season, following changes to the floor and front wheel hub after the Monaco Grand Prix.

Update – 18:40: The details of the regulation changes are now known. According to Autosport, teams must now nominate a reference mapping, chosen from those used during the first 4 Grand Prix. It is henceforth forbidden to deviate more or less than 2% from this mapping. However, the adjustment allows authorized modifications for all teams in case of “exceptional atmospheric conditions,” such as due to the constraints caused by the altitude of the Interlagos circuit.