Ferrari turns to 3D printing in effort to improve F1-75 aerodynamic performance. Ferrari turns to 3D printing.

Scuderia Ferrari is focusing on taking advantage of the benefits of modern 3D printing as the Maranello team continues its efforts to improve the aerodynamic performance of the F1-75 car with the goal of defeating Red Bull in battles for the 2022 Formula 1 Drivers and Constructors championship.

In the third round of the current campaign, the Australian Grand Prix at the Albert Park circuit, the Maranello team used 3D printed sensor mounts onboard its F1-75 challengers.

Andrew Cunningham, the eagle-eyed General Motors (GM) engineer who noticed these components on the Ferrari F1 cars, they technical purpose was to hold the electronics in place, which were designed to help evaluate were needed to assess the efficacy of a new front wing configuration.

“These 3D printed sensor mounts were fitted on the Scuderia Ferrari F1-75 during the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix Friday practice session,” Andrew Cunningham posted via a Linkedin post. “The Scuderia tested a new front wing that weekend and likely wanted to measure inboard and outboard front wing height under pitch, roll, and heave via laser ride height sensors.” – he explained.

Scuderia Ferrari remains the only team to have taken part in every Formula One championship in history and is the most successful F1 team with fifteen world drivers’ titles and sixteen constructors’ titles. It is therefore no surprise that the famous Italian company also remains one of the biggest brands in the automotive industry. Despite the fact that Ferrari’s Formula 1 and road cars are most often characterized by a sense of glitz, glamor and prestige, its additive manufacturing activities have tended to go under the radar in recent years.

Five years ago, Scuderia Ferrari confirmed it started using 3D printing in order to develop pistons for an updated power unit design that the Maranello team was working on at that moment. Additive manufacturing the elements from steel alloy provided them with greater strength and heat resistance than before and at the same time led to direct lap times gain on track as a result of weight-saving via geometric optimization.

While it is true that evaluating with great accuracy the true efficiency and gains of Scuderia Ferrari that season is very difficult, the Maranello team did improve to second in the championship that year and was able to challenge the all-conquering Mercedes for most part of the season.

Scuderia Ferrari started the current F1 campaign with some impressive results, scoring two race wins and a second place finish after the first three rounds, but unfortunately since then the Italian side has lost a lot of ground to title rivals Red Bull and is now second in the world championship rankings ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. This shows the importance of Research and Development for ongoing updates that should help improve the F1-75 car and give Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz a better change of fighting Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez in 2022.

The Scuderia’s most recent 3D printing application was once again studied and detailed by the impressive work of Andrew Cunningham, an Additive Manufacturing Product Development Engineer at GM.

He believes says that the sensor mounts on show in Australia are likely to have been made from unfilled or fiber-filled nylon, printed via Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) or MultiJet Fusion (MJF). At the same time, he explained that this may “raise a few eyebrows,” and pointed out how the technologies’ “stiffness, impact resistance and cost,” make them perfect for creating a means of holding sensors in place.

“Every time I see parts like this made with AM, I think about how much work and time is saved by not having to manufacture these via another method such as composite layups or machining,” he continued. “The tape securing the wiring is not a simple household type, but aircraft leading-edge protection tape that provides high stretchability, smooth surface finish, and no residue at a high cost of ≈ $1/foot.” – Andrew Cunningham added.

Scuderia Ferrari’s sensor mounts follow a ChronoGP report dating back to March, that suggested the Maranello team had began 3D printing cylinder block elements of the power unit for the F1-75 challenger. Specifically, leveraging a form of Selective Laser Melting (SLM), Ferrari seems to have integrated cooling channels into redesigned piston heads, in a very ingenious way that it has significantly improved the power unit’s top-end mileage.

Taking into consideration the constant technical progress and innovations that Formula One is based on, it should come as no surprise that 3D printing has become a constatat design process, despite the fact that teams don’t always want to disclose their secrets given the fearce competition. In a recent discussion with 3D Printing Industry, Pat Warner confirmed that as much as 70% of the bodywork which can be seen on Alpine’s 2022 Formula 1 car is designed using 3D printing.