In the history of a Formula 1 team, not all single-seaters have the same caliber. We are not talking about technical potential, but about the importance that a project plays in the strategies of a company. The F1-75 is a crucial step for Ferrari, and this can also be deduced from the words of Mattia Binotto, who on the occasion of the presentation of the car recalled how the resources originally allocated to the development of the SF21 were diverted to this project.
Mattia Binotto has descriebd the new red car as “brave”, a definition that is reflected in the technical choices and more. The F1-75 is the result of a work group that operated in a difficult period, a team that was able to isolate itself from the criticisms that inevitably rained down on the team in the last two tiring seasons.
Twelve months ago, at the presentation of the new car, Mattia Binotto indicated a specific goal (which was later achieved), namely third place in the Constructors’ classification, today it is quite another thing. There are no compromises on the new Ferrari, the car is the result of what in Maranello they consider the best possible outcome.
Mattia Binotto’s only request is not to overreact in hasty judgments, we are facing a great turning point for Formula 1, and four or five races will be needed to get an idea of the values on the field according to the team principal of the Maranello team. The fans have been waiting for a long time, and it will certainly not be a great sacrifice to evaluate everything after a few races, but underneath they hope to start on the right foot, and there really seems to have everything for a return to where Ferrari should be.
Mattia, what aspects did the work on the power unit focus on?
“This year the regulation requires fuel with 10% ethanol, which will gradually increase in the next seasons until it reaches 100% in 2026. The 10% share of ethanol has changed the combustion with the consequent loss of 20 horses, so we started from this point and we focused on development to try to recover as much as possible. We have revised the engine in all its aspects, the combustion chamber, the valve angles, the compression ratio, and many other parameters. On the hybrid part, work had already begun last year in the second half of the season, and we continued on that path to try to optimize everything. The power unit as a whole represents a milestone in our path of innovation, an important front also because the engines will be frozen for the next four seasons, so trying to reach maximum performance was an absolute priority for us “.
Did the overall dimensions of the engine greatly influence the shape of the hood?
“We did everything possible to try to reduce the size but also to try to have a configuration as flexible as possible for the benefit of aerodynamics, the shapes we defined were possible thanks to a revision of the architecture of the power unit in its together, but we are convinced that in the future we will also be able to choose different shapes “.
What does the test schedule now include? Are there any intermediate steps before moving on to verifying the absolute performance?
“This generation of single-seaters is different from the previous one, the way in which performance is generated is different and also the way in which they will be set up on the track. Just think of the mechanical balancing and the suspensions that will no longer be hydraulic and we will have only six days of testing that we will dedicate above all to trying to understand the car. In Barcelona we will not look at pure performance, but we will try to understand the behavior of the car by verifying the correlation between the track, the wind tunnel and the simulator. This aspect is also fundamental in view of the developments, because if we have a car on the track that confirms what we see in the simulations, the developments become less complex and faster. This is why we will not immediately seek absolute performance, we will not run with low fuel loads and we will not ask the drivers to immediately push to the maximum, the goal will be to understand the behavior of the car as the heights from the ground and flap angles vary, we will change conditions and we will check the feedback on the track. In the tests in Bahrain the moment will come when we will push more, given that we will be close to the race weekend and also because the drivers will be called to adapt as quickly as possible trying to understand what will change in terms of driving compared to the past. I think we will have to wait five or six races to understand the full potential of the car, I think it cannot be excluded that very fast cars in the first race will no longer be so in the fifth, the true values of the single-seaters will emerge after a few races “.
Was this project affected by the limits imposed by the budget cap? And to what extent will the developments planned during the season be?
“Yes, undoubtedly. Last year we underlined that the choice to renounce the developments was linked precisely to the desire to concentrate every resource on the 2022 project, if there had not been the constraints imposed by the budget cap we could have moved on both fronts, therefore an influence on the choices it had, and it will also influence the development of this car. The maximum budget has decreased compared to 2021 and will fall again in 2023. We must consider that in a few weeks we will already start thinking about the car for next season in its basic concepts, and we will start designing the first parts; therefore, there will be choices to make, namely the components of the current car that will be frozen and moved to the 2023 single-seater, because we can no longer afford to develop a car from scratch. It will be important to understand and identify what is good about the F1-75 that can also be used in 2023 “.
Last year you said that you did not expect big differences between the 2022 single-seaters, however, from the first presentations, not insignificant differences emerge. Is there anything in particular that surprised you and that will be the object of attention?
“I think sooner or later we will converge in terms of form and performance, because this regulation was designed with the aim of achieving that result. It is true that in these first introductions we have seen different cars, especially in the central area rather than on the front and rear, and yes, I was a bit surprised, I did not expect so many differences. We have made different choices than others, perhaps less conventional, we wanted to interpret these new regulations without carrying with us what we have done previously. We’ll see if there are any interesting ideas that we can take back, on the SF-75 there is already a detail taken from a car presented in the previous days, it is something that happens very often in Formula 1, and especially in this first phase of the season everyone we will look at each other with great attention ”.
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Let’s try to guess. Is the detail copied the profile of the double floor under the body seen on the Aston Martin?
“Hit and sunk …”.
Can we define Ferrari more than a double-floor single-seater a car with a double ‘coca cola’ zone?
“It is not so…”.
Single-seater design philosophy. It is a project that at first glance seems to ‘dare’ …
“This car was designed to perform aerodynamically, and this objective led to other choices such as, for example, the geometry of the suspension, both front and rear. Quite extreme choices have been made but not for purely mechanical reasons, but to help aerodynamic performance. The result, which can be considered innovative, is above all the consequence of a mental approach, at the beginning of the project we went to the gallery trying different solutions, even opposed to each other, to arrive at a choice without being influenced by previous legacies. Then, as mentioned, the suspensions changed from hydraulic to mechanical, the tires changed, and there was a need to understand their behavior, which is why we designed a car as flexible as possible to meet the choices. of set-up that we will have to do on the setup front, we did not want a car bound to particular set-up choices from which we cannot move. I defined this car as courageous, because this is a car that is the daughter of a team that has gone through difficult moments in recent years, as in 2020, always remaining united, trying to improve, even in the face of inevitable criticism, it was a compact group that has been able to look ahead “.
Soon it will be the moment of the debut for projects born from a blank sheet. Have you considered the possibility of a plan B if the results do not meet your expectations?
“In reality, you never start from a real blank sheet because you can count on your skills and knowledge, on the tools available such as the wind tunnel and the simulator, but above all on the know-how of the engineers and all the technicians. , who have their own background built on previous experiences. At this moment there is no sense in a plan B, we start from a car in which we have put the best of ourselves. Looking at the data, we are convinced that the car will work, then obviously there is always the question linked to the confrontation with the rivals, in Formula 1 it is always all relative and to get a correct picture we will have to wait for the first races “.
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