What Makes Monaco So Special?

The Monaco track is not just demanding for Ferrari, but also for technical partners such as Shell. Tobias Tasche, Shell Trackside Manager tells us exactly what makes Monaco so special.

“Monaco really is the odd one out,” he says. “It is the only true street circuit of the championship and that means the track is bumpy and cambered. The old days of having to avoid the pavements and drains have gone, but there are still hazards unique for racing cars around here - even the white lines on the road can cause trouble for the cars as they can be very slippery, especially in the wet.” Tasche continued “It is also very narrow the whole way around the lap and the barriers tight against the track are very punishing for any one who looses their concentration for a fraction of a second. The race is long too, sometimes reaching its two hour maximum in the wet. Combine this with the fact that the drivers have no time to rest during a lap, it is a gruelling race. From the technical side, the track has a great deal of elevation in the course of a lap meaning that the engine has to pull hard uphill and the brakes are tested hard on the downhill stretches.”

“From Shell’s point of view, we have to think carefully about how these unique aspects will test the fuel and oils we have in the car,” he continues. “For example, the average lap speed at Monaco is low, under 160kph, and this poses problems for the cooling of the car’s oil. The race engineers will usually use bigger radiators to cool the engine oil more efficiently at slow speeds, but this of course compromises the aerodynamic efficiency of the car. We have worked closely with Ferrari to develop lubricants especially for their engine, so the oil we use at Monaco will work with the configuration of the car to provide the highest level of cooling and lubricating efficiency.”

“The combination of reduced aerodynamic efficiency and the huge amount of downforce the cars use around the twisty track means that the engine is under increased pressure. We design our engine lubricant with this in mind to protect the engine during the race. We supply thinner lubricants to allow the engine more power (as it will run faster), or thicker lubricants that focus more on protecting the engine, but force it to run slower. The trick is to combine the two and we achieve this by hours of virtual simulation in our labs and miles of track testing with Ferrari.”

The other major component to suffer at Monaco is the gearbox as a driver can change gear nearly 40 times a lap at Monaco. Shell’s sophisticated analysis equipment means that by checking the gearbox oil throughout the weekend, Shell can keep Ferrari informed of the condition of the unit. “Put simply, we x-ray the oil to determine the level of metal within and this gives us a good indication of the state of the gearbox” says Tasche. “Our equipment is so accurate that we can detect one gram of metal in 1000 litres of lubricant and we can now even detect which driver is which simply by studying the way the use the gears. Some drivers arrive at a corner, brake hard and change down smoothly and progressively. Others arrive at a corner and change down with late or very hard, wearing the gearbox more. We can tell which is which by the way their gearbox is after the race.”