Oscar Piastri has shared his concerns over the lack of control drivers have over power deployment of this weekend’s Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Last weekend’s Belgian GP was widely expected to demonstrate the issues of battery and power deployment of the near 50:50 split between internal combustion power and electrical energy.
The long straights at Spa, most notably Kemmel and the long run towards Blanchimont, saw cars rapidly decelerate as a result of being unable to harvest energy through cornering.
Spa however exposed another issue that has fallen largely under the radar since the new power units were introduced: the algorithms that adapt to each circuit and deploy power in the way it deems best.
This is lightyears away from the previous generation of power unit, which although complex, omitted this kind of technical understanding.
Speaking on Media day ahead of Hungary, a track that will likely see far less of the problems exposed at Spa due to its tight, twisting nature, Piastri revealed the differences between the the two generations of power unit.
“To give you the full answer, I’d probably need half an hour,” Piastri said to media, including Motorsport Week.
“Even with the previous hybrid engines, there was a big element of learning, coding and AI, to some extent.
“When I joined Formula 1, those engines were incredibly mature, but also the penalty of things being slightly wrong or slightly out of place was significantly less, because it was such a small percentage of the overall power you got.
“Whereas this year, it’s basically half your power, so any small differences or anything that doesn’t quite go right has a massive impact, especially at a track like Spa.
Oscar Piastri highlights “frustrating” experience
Piastri then confirmed that he has no control over where the deployment of power happens on a lap, labelling it as “frustrating”.
“To answer your question, no, we’ve got no control over where the deployment happens, more or less. You can push the boost button, but that’s more for overtaking than in qualifying, especially.
“Like I said in Spa, when you’ve got those differences there that you have no control over, it can be frustrating.
“I’m sure it’ll get better. I don’t expect it to ever fully go away, but as the manufacturers understand it more and work out the regulation restrictions more, in terms of what the code can and can’t do, hopefully things will become a bit better.”
Piastri’s concerns are echoed by other drivers, Spa the worst track for the fledgling power units to have their issues exposed on. As understanding grows, these issues will begin to dissipate.
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