Scuderia Ferrari is not only strengthening the technical staff with the addition of about fifteen engineers from Mercedes and Red Bull, but Frederic Vasseur has launched a plan to expand simulation programs to align the Sporting Management with the tools necessary for modern F1. The optimal management of the hybrid part of the power unit is just one aspect that has emerged in the growth of the red team in the second part of the season. The Sporting Management is equipping itself with resources to challenge Verstappen…
Fred Vasseur is carrying out a deep reorganization of Ferrari. The French team principal has initiated a program of change to make Sporting Management more modern and aligned with the needs of a team that aspires to return to winning. In parallel, Benedetto Vigna, CEO of Cavallino, is developing the same growth strategy in Industrial Management, giving value to the words of President John Elkann, who at the Exor Investor Day in Turin, spoke of Ferrari as a single company, without the separations between departments and autonomies of the past.
On Motorsport.com, we revealed the inclusion of about fifteen young engineers in the Racing Department: four or five have already arrived in Maranello, while others will gradually join Sporting Management by the beginning of 2024, after the gardening period imposed by the departing teams has expired.
Ferrari is strengthening a technical area that will become increasingly strategic not only in F1 and WEC: we are talking about the world of simulation. The word itself encompasses a field that is becoming larger and more challenging to explain every day because teams are reluctant to release information considered sensitive and, therefore, top secret.
It is no longer sufficient to find a good iteration between data collected on the track with aerodynamic tests and indoor work carried out in CFD, wind tunnels, and the driving simulator. The construction of mathematical models becomes essential to help be predictive of reality, indicating possible development directions. We are talking about applied sciences in which the divisions between one field of research and another can become increasingly blurred, reaching ever more coordinated and precise integrations. And then, it becomes easy to understand that we are not only facing a turnover phase of technicians, but the entry of fresh forces, young recruits from top teams like Mercedes and Red Bull, brings with it the need to review processes and work organization in line with these new requirements.
We are talking about skills, therefore, but also about new sophisticated software that has been implemented in various positions in 2023 to offer technicians the opportunity to act in simulation on three fronts: performance, reliability, and safety.
For example, the power unit has shown resilience over the 22 races using the four units allowed by the regulations, demonstrating its power comparable to the Honda RBPT H001. Issues arose from the electronic part, which will be the focus of winter attention from Enrico Gualtieri‘s engine team.
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Since the summer break, Ferrari has changed its approach to the use of the power unit: starting to work on strategies, David George, the specialist from the Red Bull-Honda world, has modified the use of the hybrid part with a different breakdown of electrical energy that has allowed a double beneficial effect: by utilizing less torque on acceleration at the exit of corners, the SF-23 began to experience less power slides. While ensuring excellent traction, it reduced the tendency to overheat the tires, not induced only by the porpoising originated from the car’s bouncing.
Consuming less energy while driving meant being able to reduce clipping at the end of straights: the Scuderia started the season with the PU that had no more hybrid to exploit at the end of the longest straights, while in the second part of the championship, things went much better. Maranello has entered this new dimension, finding room for growth, not only in the power unit, fueling the optimism palpable around the Racing Department these days.
The development of race strategies (and perhaps even starts) increasingly tailored to individual GPs should lead to a much more in-depth and detailed understanding of the car’s capabilities.
The SF-23, net of design errors, had qualities that remained hidden for a long time due to the inability to extract the actual potential it contained from the red car. Vasseur did well not to throw everything away before summer; otherwise, Carlos Sainz’s victory in Singapore would not have been celebrated, nor the recovery of almost 50 points on Mercedes in the final rush.
A path has been taken that has shown the first positive signs already this year, but there could be significant margins for growth. Ferrari is investing in human resources and in programs developed exclusively for Cavallino, in the hope that the 676 can be a car capable of competing on all tracks of the 2024 season without the highs and lows of the just-concluded Formula One season…
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