Quote:
Originally Posted by Akrapovic
No idea, as I said I only converted the stats posted here into more relevant numbers. If someone finds more accurate stats then it's pretty easy to work out the average per car.
Totals don't mean anything because Renault supply 3 times more engines than Honda. So you need an average. It's also unfair to compare actual slots lost rather than penalised if you're wanting a picture of reliability. Mercedes cars tend to be further forward on the grid, so a 5 place drop will always be a 5 place drop. But a Honda is usually near the back, so a 25 place drop for multiple failures could turn out to only be 4 places lost. If you use the actual slots lost, this makes the Honda look more reliable than the Mercedes, when we know that isn't the case. That's why you have to compare the number penalised, because a team may not be able to serve the penalty in full. It also suggests that the engine rules were written without taking into account that there could be such reliability issues, which is a bit short sighted!
I actually mashed my calculator wrongly too. It's 4 for Mercedes, not 6. Pit pass claims 25 places across 3 teams, or 6 cars. 25/6 cars is 4.16, rounded to 4. So according to PitPass stats, Mercedes cars have lost approx 4 places on the grid each throughout the year.
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I agree that an average per car/driver would be a better indication of what is going on - but there also a number of other factors at play that could also be a muddying of the waters.
Tactical changes - we see teams opt to take the penalties at a certain time, in an attempt to gain the least hurt.
Bulk changes - if a team know that they are going to take a penalty, and that they are likely to be at the back, then they may also opt for multiple elements simultaneously just to refresh. Do we know if the Hondas were further up the front, that they would have still made the multi-element changes?
Performance stress - if a certain car is battling with a lot of traffic, or attempting to make up positions, could they be pushing their engine harder than another car in clearer air or not racing a rival?
External factors - some damage to engines could be as a result of contact or driver style?
For example:
At the US GP, Vandoorne took a 30-place PU penalty, Verstappen a 15-place. I would imagine the RBR thinking was that Verstappen will still be able to get into the points from mid-low pack, but Vandoorne was just taking a whole refresh of all elements.
Was Vettel's engine change at Malaysia attributable to damage at Singapore?
Was Ricciardo's engine failure in Mexico caused by excessive heat from following cars? Possibly stress from attempting to move through the pack?
My original point was that the volume of penalties received is meaningless without the context. Whether that is the impact, contributory factors or decision making behind PU changes - all of these should be known before the data can be interpreted correctly.