Red Bull would like to change everything, but it is not true that Ferrari wants to follow them. The minefield is that of 2025 Formula 1 engines. The idea is to halve the costs of power units with technical choices that favor the introduction of ecological fuels useful for reducing emissions, while maintaining the efficiency achieved today.
In Milton Keynes they push to break the bank and focus on an engine that has nothing to do with the current power units, perhaps hoping to involve the VW Group brand that is looking at Formula 1 as a possible project (Manufacturers Audi and Porsche took part in the last meeting).
For Red Bull Powertrain, one could focus on an endothermic four-cylinder supported by a larger hybrid component to achieve the same powers as today in a different way.
Historically, Ferrari has always been against low-split engines because there would be the risk of breaking the relapse with the series product, although the hybrid component is destined to grow over time also on the jewels of the Prancing Horse, taking into account that the next extreme car from Maranello will derive from the Hypercar which in 2023 will compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Mercedes, on the other hand, pushes for continuity: the less you change, the better their chances of maintaining a technical supremacy that has lasted since the beginning of the hybrid era. Let us not forget that Ola Kallenius, president of Daimler AG, in the renewal of the Agreement of Concord with Formula 1, demanded a clause that would allow a team to exit with only one year’s notice.
It may be that he is considering the idea of selling the 33.3% stake in Brackley’s team to partner Ineos, but he has no intention of getting rid of the Brixworth engine plant, the real core business of the Star. Indeed, the idea of the Swede would be to expand the engine area by transferring some functions to Germany, to make the presence in F1 less British (the effects of Brexit are also felt) and more German.
It is clear, therefore, that Mercedes will exercise a very persuasive political role in the choices of the power units and the direction of Ferrari will be a decisive factor one way or the other, especially since the Scuderia has the right to veto.
The scenario, therefore, is more complex than what the CEOs of the manufacturers who met at Silverstone want to show, but the orientation seems to keep the six-cylinder engine in a 90-degree V, bringing the electric power to around 300 kW. from the current 120, but drastically reducing the fuel needed to complete the distance of a GP: there is talk of limiting the fuel in the tank from 110 kg to 90 kg, to go down again in the following years.
Formula 1, therefore, could become the highest expression of an industrial revival of the internal combustion engine capable of finding a new existence, after the unjustified massacre that was triggered in a demagogic manner due to the diesel gate, and fueled by a policy that pursues the electrification in a market that is not yet ready to support the inevitable transition.
Manufacturers are interested in this game, just like the oilmen who had looked with suspicion at the FIA’s attempt to produce their own eco-friendly zero-emission fuel that was delivered to the engineers in February for bench tests.
The outcome was positive, because none of the engines broke, despite reaching an output of about eighty horsepower less than today. The federal experiment has shown that the open road is viable for which the gasoline suppliers of the teams have thrown headlong into the study of synthetic fuels.
In short, F1 could find that driving role for the automotive industry that it has lost over the years, it remains to be seen how the cost of power units can be halved. And here other problems occur: the idea of FIA and Formula 1 is to freeze many parts of the engines, making them the same for everyone with a single supplier.
What could end up on the shopping list? Everything and more, including turbo and the two electric motors if the MGU-H is confirmed, limiting research and development in very restricted areas such as the combustion chamber and hybrid strategies. A picture that cannot please Ferrari at all, who does not want to give up the DNA of F1 which is research and innovation.
Some argue that we have now come to the discussion of the details. We do not believe that this is the case: the transition to the 2025 engines is narrower than it might seem and there are many corners still to be smoothed, but the path we have taken is the right one …
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