@mariohomohFIA ban's change of PU mode, ERS is in the PU. It's now forbidden to have different map for ICE. Slow laps (in and out-laps during qualifying, formation lap, laps under safety car and lap after chequered flag) are exceptions, driver can change engine mode to increase harvesting of his ERS. During competitive lap, driver can only use overtake button to change mapping of the ERS that change only how the ERS is deploy and have no effect on the ICE.
In the videos you quoted, the changes of ERS mode are always during this slow lap. As qualifying is an other session than race, I guess there is a special qualify mode where the ERS deploy the 4 MJ/lap instead of the 2 MJ/lap map during the race.
As Taffin said few years ago, I think ERS deploy 2 MJ/lap each lap during the race, whatever the mode you use (normal or overtake) and overtake use it only at different moment like I tried to explain. Normal is the best for the lap time, overtake give more max speed but slower lap time. Harvesting is limited by rules at 2 MJ/lap. We all know it's technically possible to harvesting and deploy a lot more since it's in discussion for the next engine regulation that will decrease fuel consumption and increase ERS usage.
Discussion on the radio are strange. Sometimes a driver say his tires are gone but it purple the lap just after 😉 Seriously... it's code talking... because FIA say driver have to drive alone and asking to the driver to change engine mode is considered by an assist and strictly forbidden. Also, during Alonso formation lap video you quoted, engineer give instruction before the race and not during the formation lap as it's strictly forbidden exactly like I said. Only exception is for reliability after FIA approve.
As I say, ERS as it in game or as Meza994 want it is unrealistic. There is none technical harvesting limitation and no deploy limitation in the current state of rules, only rules limitations. So there is no reason to save ERS to using it more later... you can't harvesting more than 2MJ and deploy more than 2MJ so balance is 0.
@GrandDragnYou got that one wrong, mate. Only ICE modes changing got banned, ERS modes are still free to switch. Perhaps if you could link us your source we could clear up the noise?
As I said, you can get a good picture of what is going on if you've got a F1 TV subscription. Clips of in-race battles with ERS changing beyond the mere press of the overtake button are quite common too but they get taken down quickly. Anyway I'll try to link one here whenever one pops in my radar.
Now if you've got a way to access the full race videos, I can point you out to some examples. From the Spanish GP:
Besides that I know that at least Racefans has an ongoing archive of the radio highlights and you can see plenty of mentions to changing strats and modes.
The ruling states that the same ICE modes are locked for quali and race sessions. They're free to change other PU parameters – ERS modes, engine braking, torque etc. – but not the engine maps.
Can you please link us to the Taffin piece you speak about? Other than that, there's plenty of discussion on the famous F1 Technical forums and even the F1 Technical Subreddit, you'll often see Scarbs on both of them. That's if you don't mind some tech heavy talk, otherwise you'll also see this being discussed on the regular Formula 1 Reddit.
Edit: Just to clarify, the F1 Technical are kind of legendary. You'll see plenty of people working all around the motorsport industry in there. The respective subreddit is also great and nicely moderated. Depending on what platform you use, you'll see that some users have special tags informing they're verified members of the industry (PU guys, aerodynamicists, gearbox guys, guys from the supply chain, etc) or from the media (as I said, Scarbs is in there). This verification is done by the moderation team.
Sorry for the double posting but I guess this warrants a space of its own. I'll just refer to a few quality posts of the F1 Technical subreddit from verified users:
From a verified F1 Performance Engineer about PU modes, ICE modes and the TD 37/20 ban:
From the same user and the same discussion, going a bit in detail about how the PU supplying side of things works. That's maybe not as common knowledge as it should, but all customer teams have at least one PU guy from the engine supplier and most if not all PU settings must be validated by them before use. The teams do not have full and unabridged access to all the PU parameters. You'll often hear about this being discussed by the F1 tech guys and personnel in interviews, podcasts and such.
Dig deep enough and you'll even find direct quotes from the TD 37 itself even though it wasn't publicly disclosed by the FIA, as usual.
