Home » F1 » F1 Engine Specs 2020 : How powerful are Formula 1 engines, what are its components?
The performance of a Formula 1 car is measured in terms of power, which is measured in watts. Watt is simply the rate of energy transferred in a unit of time.
In Formula 1, there are no regulations for the amount of power a team can use in their cars. There are engine specifications thought, which needs to be complied to. The specifications are four-stroke, turbocharged 1.6 liter, 90 degree V6 turbo engines. The maximum engine power rotational speed is 15,000 revolutions per minute (rpm).
Coming to the amount of power generated, the exact numbers are highly classified in nature by the engine providers. The current F1 engine providers are Ferrari, Mercedes, Honda and Renault. Mercedes is considered to have the maximum Horse Power (HP). Ferrari comes next, with Renault and Honda have considerably gap over the two giants. The teams invest a lot of money in research to give them an extra edge in powerful engines.
The total power of a F1 engine is measured after calculating the power in the V6 engines, and Energy Recovery System (ERS). Considering the development of engine by the aforementioned engine suppliers, it is considered that the current F1 cars carry more than the magic number of 1000 HP. In spite of this, the F1 cars are extremely safe to drive, with good fuel efficiency, with major accidents rarely reported from the tracks.
There are six primary components in a modern F1 Power unit, which comprises the engine. The most significant is the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE), which connects the chassis to the gearbox. The second component is the turbocharger (TC), which manages air density to generate extra power in the engines.
Then there are two types of Motor Generator Units – Kinetic (MGU-K) and Heat (MGU-H). The MGU-K collects and stores kinetic energy when the car is braking. The MGU-H is connected to the turbocharger and harnesses waste energy from the exhaust, which contributes to the overall power.
The modern V6 turbo engines contain electric energy is stored in what is known as the Energy Store (ES). All the 5 elements are controlled by the final element, Control Electronics (CE). In simple words, it is the CPU (Central Processing Unit) of a F1 enine. Each F1 Driver can use three ICE, MGU-H and TC and two ES, CE and MGU-K in a single season,
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