A lot of predictions have been made after the pre-season testing session at the Circuit de Catalunya, but one should still be careful, because we all know the first test days do not have much significance. Especially with cars that only took over the steering wheel from the previous year. Nobody knows who is doing what on the track. Who drives with how much fuel on board. Who uses which engine settings or if a team still has something up their sleeve that will only be unpacked in Bahrain. Direct comparisons are difficult to make, even if the teams’ assessments are usually close to reality thanks to the values of recent years and their simulation tools.
What everyone in the paddock agrees on is that Ferrari makes a very good impression after two days of testing. 153 laps on the first day, 150 on the second. The load is practically evenly distributed. Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc covered similar distances, as Ferrari is neatly sorted out at this early stage. The car has no problems with setup and if a problem does arise, it’s quickly solved and the red car doesn’t stay in the garage for long.
All manufacturers with new engines
Not only the car is completely new, but also the engine. This is not only due to the switch to E10 fuel. From this season, a ten percent share of biological fuel must be added to the mix. That costs about 20 hp on paper which means that the entire combustion process had to be adapted for this. However, the manufacturers would have designed completely new engines even without the new fuel, as reported by German magazine AMuS. Because it’s the last opportunity to upgrade until 2026 given the engine freeze, which is starting this season.
In a first step, the V6 turbo and the MGU-H electric component will be homologated on March 1st. With the MGU-K, the battery and the power electronics, the manufacturers have until September 1st before the components are frozen. After that, only interventions that serve to ensure reliability are permitted.
Mercedes states that it has never done so much work on its power unit from one year to the next. In the paddock, people are saying that the world champion team is not yet at the level of performance of 2021. A few HP should still be missing. Red Bull Honda also said in winter that they had not yet made up for the losses caused by E10.
Maranello takes the risk
Like the competition, Ferrari cannot reveal any concrete figures. However, one hears from the ranks of the Italian national racing team that they have made a big leap with the new engine. Even bigger than from 2020 to 2021. If that’s true, it would be a huge step. We remember: at that time, Ferrari lost a lot of power after the FIA adapted a technical directives that reduced its Formula 1 engine’s performance.
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There were irregularities with the power unit in 2019 and Ferrari had to scale back massively. The power unit therefore lagged behind by around 50 hp in 2020. In the previous year, Ferrari reportedly reduced the gap to 20-25 hp, while a new hybrid system that debuted late in the season brought another one or two tenths.
With a show of strength in winter, Maranello wanted to close the gap to the previous class leader Mercedes. Ferrari took the full risk for this. The reliability can be improved, but not the performance over the next four seasons. Ferrari’s customer teams are satisfied with the progress made, which so far does not appear to have come at the expense of reliability.
The competition applauds: “We have the feeling that Ferrari currently has the most powerful engine,” says Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff. But you have to classify the whole thing: Only two test days have been completed. Ferrari shouldn’t be praised too soon. Winter tests can be deceiving. Team boss Mattia Binotto knows that, too, and warns: “We’re not the favourites, we’re the outsiders.”
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