From a technical standpoint, Ferrari is a two-headed structure: Enrico Cardile is the technical director of the chassis department, and Enrico Gualtieri is the equivalent for the engine department. At Zandvoort, the Cavallino team had Cardile on the field, and in Monza, it was the turn of the 48-year-old Modena native. In an extraordinary lecture, he explained to journalists the characteristics and secrets of the power units, with the SF21’s 065/6 engine, the heart of the 2021 Ferrari SF21, and all its accessories by his side.
Enrico Gualtieri joined Ferrari in 2000 to work on his thesis and was hired after graduation as a Simulation Specialist in the Scuderia. He embarked on a journey in the world of engines, eventually becoming the head of around 400 people in design, construction, testing benches, and on-track areas. Enrico is an anti-character. A shy person who has fully realized his role: an excellent coordinator of workgroups that intersect in defining a power unit. He is no longer in the role of designing engines but is the one who extracts the best ideas from various departments, integrating them into the complex power unit system and then into the concept of the car with a very complicated packaging.
The opportunity to talk to Enrico Gualtieri in Monza allowed for a glimpse into the 2026 engines.
“It’s a new challenge for everyone, and I think even the new entrants will have to work on a particularly specific area of the competition under the new regulations and may have more background knowledge. For us, it’s an additional challenge.”
Are you not concerned that F1 might see new Constructors with extensive electric experience?
“It’s a challenge we accept, and we must try to do everything and more to close all the gaps where we can improve in terms of acquiring new skills.”
Today, Ferrari is somewhat isolated because it’s no longer part of a large industrial group, as it was with FIAT, from which it could draw know-how in specific development areas. The challenge for Maranello, defining a power unit that will have 50% electric power from 2026, won’t be easy. The Prancing Horse is alone in the battle against Mercedes, Audi, Renault, Honda, and, to a lesser extent, Ford, which will support Red Bull’s power unit.
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Will internal resources in the engine department be sufficient to be competitive in 2026?
“We need to educate ourselves by looking both inside and outside Maranello, seeking where competencies can be found. What we did back in 2014 will be an important model of collaboration.”
Well, the 2014 adventure with the birth of the power units didn’t start well, with an engine that, due to design choices in defining the chassis-engine, wasn’t competitive…
“But that was an experience from which we learned many things and which we will treasure for the future…”
Helmut Marko and Christian Horner have started a media campaign, claiming that the engine rules need to be revised because it will be very challenging to harness the 350 kW of electric energy within one lap…
“The 2026 engine rules are defined, and regulations have been voted on and are now available. We are making a series of refinements with the FIA: we are engaging in what is a natural evolution that also takes into account the experience of regulations from previous years, but we have the foundations to start our work.”
Are there aspects that need to be discussed before defining the chassis rules that are currently under discussion?
“The principle of the regulation is what we are working on, then there will be refinements, and we will address the issues that each party is discovering.”
Are you encountering issues at Ferrari as well?
“There is a paradigm shift in engines: we will no longer have the MGU-H, and the battery will become an important element supporting the duty cycle throughout the evolution of the power unit. So, we are starting from afar, and if there are structural problems, I am convinced that with the FIA and the engine manufacturers, we will find a fair agreement.”
Let’s come back to today: Alpine complained to the FIA, claiming to have a power unit with about thirty fewer horsepower than other Constructors. Have you noticed power differences, and can you rank the most powerful engines?
“It’s difficult for us because our analyses, although we do them, cannot take into account the data that the FIA or others may have. We can conduct more general analyses in which we don’t see significant differences in current power units.”
Back to 2026: will the engines be homologated, but can they be developed?
“Definitely, this will be one of the points to define. There is a specific part of the regulation that allows identifying development opportunities when the power units hit the track and a gap emerges compared to the average of other power units. However, this part still needs to be refined within the regulations itself, just to have a shared method for comparison.”
Won’t this become an opportunity to introduce Balance of Performance (BoP)?
“No, I don’t think that’s the direction F1 wants for development. There are all the elements to try to establish a process that does not include BoP within the regulations.”
What are the aspects driving the new power unit project?
“In the end, it’s a system issue: between engine power and energy recovery, you can play with some project parameters that can exaggerate one area more than another. However, all this must be placed in the best final compromise. At that point, circuit configurations come into play, as well as optimization strategies studied race by race. So, in the end, choices must favor the system. It’s true, then, to say that there is no longer a predominant element, but we only talk about the system.”
In 2026, gasoline must be zero carbon. There are two options: e-fuel or biofuel. What is Ferrari focusing on?
“What we are working on is confidential, but the regulations have left engine manufacturers and fuel suppliers free to study any technology.”
Could we see a war between fuel manufacturers, or to satisfy those focusing on e-fuel and those investing in biofuel, will there be gasoline defined with a percentage of one component and the other?
“No, there is the possibility of developing the best product within rules that are defined and prescriptive…”
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