I am sure you have wondered how is this possible to have such powerful and yet so small engines? As the F1 engines are really made with incredible technology there are no easy answers or at least no short ones.

F1 engines manufacturers are developing their engines by trying to find every possible way to increase the power output and thermal efficiency. To date, they have found some ways to increase drastically these characteristics, such as:

• An incredibly high RPM (around 15000 revs).
• A specific unleaded fuel with a chemical composition adapted to the engine.
• Homogeneous distribution of the air in the combustion chamber thanks to custom design plenums.
• A specific ignition system that is much more efficient than what you can find on a regular car.
• The use of a whole new hybrid system that allows an increase of 300 bhp for a total of 1000 bhp for the whole engine.
• An overall thermal efficiency that has reached 50%.
• More precise tolerances when producing the different metallic parts of the engine.
• Exhaust pipes redesign in order to push out exhaust gazes from the combustion chamber more quickly.

That was a lot to take I am sure. We are going to go in detail in each of these points and hopefully, it will become clearer.

What Makes Them So Powerful?

The Incredible 15000 RPM

F1 engines can reach an incredible 15 000 rpm. This number means that the engine makes 15 000 turns per minutes. In order to achieve this, an F1 engine is quite different than your regular car engine. The main difference is the pistons which have a higher diameter and a lower height in order to shorten the cycle. Another important point is that in order to get such a high rpm the manufacturing tolerances of an F1 engine is incredibly low. The movement of the pieces needs to be incredibly precise to ensure perfect timing between the pistons and valves.

The Ignition

An F1 engine has a pre-ignition chamber containing the spark plugs. The spark plugs ignite a small percentage of the fuel-air mix in the pre-ignition chamber. This, in turn, creates a flame that burns all the mix inside the combustion chamber. It is a means to ensure more power and efficiency.

The New Hybdrid Sytem

In 2014, F1 rules were changed to accommodate a new V6 1,6L engine including a double kinetic energy recovering system that replaced the KERS introduced in 2009: the MGU-K & the MGU-H.

The MGU-K (Motor Generator Unit – Kinetic) is an electrical engine that can be reversed into a power unit, linked to the mechanical transmission. It recovers the braking energy and gives it back during acceleration. The MGU-H (Motor Generator Unit – Heat), is also an electrical engine that can be reversed into a power unit, linked to the turbo compressor allowing it to recover the energy of exhaust gas. It helps launch back the turbo before accelerations.

The introduction of the MGU-H, MHU-K and V6 engine resulted in a decrease of 35% of the fuel consummated during the season. The engine and the energy recovery system have a total power output of 1000 horsepower. The MGU-H and MGU-K alone add 300 bhp to the internal combustion engine’s 700 bhp.

Thermal Efficiency

With all these developments the post-2014 V6 hybrid engine has a thermal efficiency of 50%. The thermal efficiency of the previous class of engines (before 2014) was about 30%. The thermal efficiency on a regular road car is between 20 and 35%. Reaching 50% is quite the feat.

A Better Gas Flow

An often disregarded but very important point. One of the main reasons that thermal engines have low thermal efficiency is that there is a loss of energy in the form of heat thought the exhaust gas. F1 engine manufacturers, especially Mercedes, redesigned their exhaust pipes to be lighter and shorter. This has 2 main advantages:

• the shorter the pipes, the less heat is lost on the way to the MGU-H.
• the quicker the exhaust gas is pushed out of the combustion chamber the faster the new cycle can begin.

In addition to the work on the exhaust pipes, the engines have now custom design plenums that allow a homogenous distribution of the air inside the combustion chamber. Thus earning a bit more in thermal efficiency.

A Specific Unleaded Fuel

Every F1 engine also works with a specifically calibrated fuel. Petronas which works with Mercedes is constantly studying the chemical composition of their fuel in order to gain also in thermal efficiency and power.

Now that we saw the main ways that F1 engines manufacturers gain power and thermal efficiency, let’s look into the engine composition.

What Is Inside An F1 Engine?

An F1 engine is composed of first the Internal Combustion Engine (or ICE) which is as its name indicates the main component of the engine. Currently, they are 1.6L V6 engines. Around it, there is also the Turbocharger whose role is to increase the air quantity in the combustion chamber in order to increase thermal efficiency. Then come the MGU-H and MGU-K, explained a bit earlier. The electric energy created by the MGU-H and MGU-k is stored in the Energy Store. The final element of the engine is the Control Electronics controlling all the other equipment of the engine.

How Does An F1 Engine Actually Work?

The Turbocharger compresses the air that enters the combustion chamber of the ICE. After compression, air temperature increases so the air needs to be cooled down in a charger before entering the plenum that will distribute it homogeneously inside the combustion chamber. From there, the air gets into the cylinders and get mixed with the fuel. The fuel is then injected with a maximum of 500 bars according to the regulations.

The rest of the functioning doesn’t differ much from a regular car. The air-fuel mix is compressed by a piston, then a spark plug ignites the mix. The combustion then makes the piston go back in the opposite direction. Since the piston is linked mechanically to the crankshaft, the latter is moved by the pistons. When the pistons go back to their original position the exhaust valves open and release the exhaust gas. The process then begins anew.

F1 engine have not always worked this way. Their technology has in fact changed often.

How Have The Engines Evolved Throughout History?

We will do here a brief overview of the different engines used in F1 over time.

1947 to 1953

There was no real officiating body at the time and the used engines were mostly 4.5L atmospheric engines (meaning without a pressure increase in the internal combustion chamber) and 1.5 or 3L supercharged engines. The power obtained was on average of 425 hp.

1954 to 1960

The atmospheric and supercharged engines’ sizes were reduced to 2.5L and 750cc respectively. Since no constructor built a supercharged engine, all teams used naturally aspirated engines. Max obtained power was on average 290 hp.

1961-1965

Power decreased again when teams decide to change the location of their engines. Instead of having it in front, they decided to move it on the back of the car. This, in turn, made manufacturers reduce the size of the engines again to 1.5L for naturally aspirated engines. Power range decreased again and was between 150 hp and 225 hp.

1966-1977

In 1966, the FIA increased the engine displacement to 3.0 L for naturally aspirated engines and to 1.5 L for compressed ones. With the new regulation, Cosworth developed an engine that will be used extensively in F1: the Cosworth DFV. This engine was cheap and produced a high performance for the time. It was a golden age for F1 teams: they could, with a limited cost, acquire a top-shelf engine that could be fitted in their chassis. The Cosworth DFV produced 400 bhp. F1 engines’ power started to rise again.

1978-1986

Turbocharged engines were allowed by the FIA in 1966 but no manufacturer, until Renault in 1977, had the money or interest in developing one. Renault created the first turbocharged F1 engine with the Gordini V6 Turbo.

It is important to know here the difference between a supercharged and a turbocharged engine. Both systems use compressors to increase the quantity of air in the internal combustion chamber. The difference is how they get their power. A supercharger gets its energy from a belt linking it to the engine, like an alternator fo example. A turbocharger gets its power from the exhaust steam. The exhaust steam runs through a turbine which in turn spins the compressor.

So Renault created the first turbocharged engine in the history of F1. This engine was considerably more powerful than any other engine at the time. By 1985, all teams had switched to turbocharged engines. The turbocharged engines are known to be the most powerful ever used in an F1 car. The Benneton’s BMW engines reached an incredible 1 350 bhp at 5.5 boost pressure in qualifying setup. The immense power of these engines made them highly unreliable. They would often break after a few laps when used at full power. Teams then decided to limit the output of the engines to 1000 bhp in order to increase reliability.

1987-1988

Following the domination of turbocharged engines, the FIA progressively diminished the boost pressure of the forced induction, to 4 bar in 1987 and finally to 2.5 bar in 1988. Finally, turbocharged engines were banned by the end of the 1988 season.

1989 -1994

In 1989 the FIA went back to the naturally aspirated 3.5 L engines. Engines were around 675 hp for an rpm of around 13 000 in 1989, before climbing to 820 hp at 15 800 rpm for the Ferrari 043 in 1994.

1995-2005

In 1995, regulations were again changed. This time, the authorized engines were the naturally aspirated engines of 3.0 L. The ruling engine of this era was the 3.0 L naturally aspirated V10. The output was between 650 hp and 965 hp. Peak revs were between 17 000 rpm and 19 000 rpm. Eventually, some teams preferred to reduce power in order to gain in reliability as with such high rpm values reliability could be an issue. In 2005, the V10 engine was permitted no more than 5 valves per cylinder.

2006 -2013

This is the last era before the hybrid engines. In order to reduce engine development cost, the FIA announced severe restrictions for the 2006 season. Engines had to be naturally aspirated 90° V8 of 2.4 litres maximum capacity with a circular bore of 98 mm (3.9 in) maximum. A minimum weight of 95 kg was also imposed. For teams that couldn’t get a V8, it was allowed to keep old engines with the use of a rev limiter.

There were a lot of limitations. For instance, were forbidden: injecting any other substance than air and fuel in the ICE, pre-cooling air, variable geometry intake and exhaust systems, variable valve timing. Each cylinder must had one fuel injector and one spark plug. The cylinder block and crankcase needed to be made out of aluminium whereas the crankshaft and camshafts had to be made from an iron alloy.

Despite this attempt from the FIA to reduce engine power and development cost, some teams had more powerful cars in 2006. Average engine power was around 740 hp at 18 000 rpm in 2006. The same engines were used in 2008 and 2009.

In 2009, the KERS was introduced. KERS stands for Kinetic Recovery Energy System. This system recovers the braking energy and allows the drivers to use it in order to gain power by pushing a button. The power increase by lap is limited to 400 Kj. This system produces an increase of 80 horsepower during 6,67 seconds. It allows a saving of 1,5 litres of fuel by the end of a Grand Prix. Its heaviness and high cost of development coupled to the fact that on some circuits the yield of the system wasn’t satisfying made the F1 teams use this system intermittently. The system was truly used by all teams in 2011.

2014 – Present

In 2014, the FIA changed the engine’s specification again this time for the hybrid engines that we see today. The new engines are the ones containing also the MGU-H and MGU-K.

To Wrap It All

You will find below a cool graph showing the evolution of F1 engine’s power throughout time. Enjoy!