It may look like just a small green button on the left of the steering wheel. But it creates an extra element of strategy and race tactics that helps make A1GP World Cup of Motorsport unique.
Pressing the PowerBoost button – a special button not usually seen on open-wheel racing car – gives the car a little extra speed not available at any other time. Sometimes drivers use it for overtaking, sometimes it is used in defending an attack from a rival nation.
A1GP rules limit how many times it can be pressed in a race, so when to press the button becomes a key part of race decision-making.
Why is there the need for PowerBoost in the first place?
Designing efficient aerodynamics on racing cars is something of a black art, but it can have a negative effect on the ability to overtake, and therefore race, something which makes motorsport exciting.
When a racing car travels at speed, it has to punch a hole through the air. This means that in the car’s wake is turbulent, ‘dirty air’ created from the non-uniform shape of a racing car. Which isn’t good for the car following behind.
Imagine trying to swim in a clam swimming pool – then imagine how much harder it would be to do that same swim against the current of a flowing river. It is the same when a racing car follows another car, it gets in the ‘dirty air’ which actually slows it down.
So when a car gets behind another car, it has to struggle to overcome the negative effects of that dirty air, often making overtaking difficult.
But passing is by no means impossible. When you get close enough to another car the dirty-air factor negates itself completely, and there is effectively a vacuum of air, which actually pulls the car closer towards it. Racing drivers call it a ‘tow’ (because they feel they are receiving a ‘tow’ from the car in front).
All A1GP cars are identical, so the car was carefully designed to limit the effects of dirty-air, however it is ultimately unavoidable to some degree.
So, to encourage overtaking, A1GP cars have a PowerBoost button. The PowerBoost button can help overcome the problem of following in a car’s turbulent air, giving the driver a bonus 30 extra brake horse power at the touch of a button.
How does it work?
PowerBoost was designed and developed by Zytek Engineering, who presently manufacturer the engines for A1GP World Cup of Motorsport.
At the touch of a button the system changes certain engine parameters which give an increase in engine revolutions – causing an increase in speed.
‘PowerBoost will only activate if the button is pressed when the throttle is above 80 per cent and the car speed is above 60 kph,’ explains Zytek’s operations director John Manchester.
‘The system will automatically deactivate if the throttle position drops below 40 per cent. Because of A1GP rules, each driver has a limited amount of time that he can obtain the extra power, presently four activations for each Sprint race and eight activations for each Feature race.
‘Once these allocations have been used the system automatically disables and drivers can no longer get an advantage by pressing the button. After each race the Zytek engineers reset the system on each car ready for the next race.'
One great aspect of this system is that the live telemetry data is also sent to the TV broadcast compound, so a graphic is created which is shown live on screen to demonstrate when a driver is pressing the PowerBoost button. It also shows how many presses of the PowerBoost button are left in the race.
PowerBoost strategy
A driver has four presses in the Sprint and eight in the Feature – so knowing when to use them could be the difference between winning and losing.
Think about the possibilities here. As a driver, do you use them all at the start in an effort to gain some sort of cushion over your competitor, or do you save them until the end of the race when they might be needed to make that crucial last-lap pass?
‘I definitely think about my PowerBoost strategy before I go into a race,’ says A1 Team
‘I always have to try and use it at the very start of the race, because you stand to lose places – there is always the best chance to make or lose positions.
‘But there will be a situation where I won’t use it off the line. There are some circuits with very long straights and where overtaking is much easier and it might be an advantage to have an extra press available over the rest later on.
‘But how my strategy works depends on the circuit and how quick I feel I can be. If I feel I’ve qualified badly I’m going to save my presses and use them for passing later on. If I’m at the front but if I feel I’m going to be pushed hard I might use them earlier on to try and open up a gap.
‘But I generally try and save them, especially in the Feature race.’
Sometimes it’s easier on your own
With a bonus point available for the fastest lap in a race, there are other ways of using PowerBoost to your advantage, even if you are fortunate to be leading and not need to pass anyone.
‘In Mexico last year I was leading after the first lap and I used the PowerBoost all the way round the lap to try and get some advantage because I wanted to try and get the fastest lap of the race when the tyres were still new,’ Yoong adds. ‘But in Mexico it didn’t work out because Salvador Duran came into the pits after his accident and A1 Team Mexico put him out on new tyres with the sole aim of securing the fastest lap. Which he got.
‘But you have to be confident if you use PowerBoosts early that you are not going to get overtaken or if you make a mistake you can still keep them behind.’
But there are dangers in using it on your own which need to be considered, reckons A1 Team
With the PowerBoost button only coming into play during a race, a driver has no experience of what the boost gives you or how it feels before it actually matters.
That means extra care has to be taken when a driver presses it in competition for the first time.
‘If you are not careful, it could actually turn into a slower lap,’ Bleekemolen says. ‘When you’ve pressed it on a straight you arrive much faster into the corner than you ever have before. So you don’t know the exact braking point for the corner anymore because you’ve not tried it.
‘When you are on your own using the PowerBoost, most of the time you mess up the braking point and you lose time you gained on the straight.
‘You need to use it when you have a good run on someone coming onto the straight and you are getting a tow. The two combined is enough to overtake.’
Timing is everything
So, it is generally accepted that drivers press the buttons on the straights to maximise the time of a single press and the trackspace to pass a competitor (not to mention the fact it is harder to hold the steering wheel and press the button while cornering!). But exactly when it is pressed – either on the straight or the exit of the corner straight – is different depending on the driver involved.
A1 Team Switzerlands’ Neel Jani says: ‘When I feel I had a good exit from the corner I push the PowerBoost button immediately.
‘The guy in front then doesn’t obviously know that I’ve pushed it. If I push it early then I get the advantage.
‘If I push it later, although you are in the slipstream, I don’t get as much of an advantage.’
Teams are constantly on the radio to their drivers, and one that will be discussed is the amount of PowerBoosts a competitor has left. While the team may not have enough time to inform a driver if the guy behind is currently pressing his buttons, he is likely to know how many his adversary has left in the race.
‘PowerBoost can also be used for clever defending,’ Yoong concludes. ‘Whether you are defending or attacking you always try and make the other guy use up his limit unnecessarily.
‘You always want to be the one with the last PowerBoost. If you are saving it and you don’t have time to use it you are kicking yourself. If you use it at the same time as the other guy the chances of you overtaking are greatly reduced.’
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