After two years of experimentation, Ferrari decided to bring steel pistons to the track: thanks to the production in Addicting Manufacturing, weight would be saved, reaching stiffness and resistance to high temperatures higher than those of aluminium.
The question that everyone is asking is: why did Ferrari anticipate the debut of the second engine of the three granted in the 2019 season at the GP of Spain? Mattia Binotto, team principal of the Prancing Horse, yesterday made official the decision that was taken in the Racing Department…
“In Spain there will be a new power unit anticipating the initial plan to introduce the second unit in Canada – explained Binotto – for this power unit Shell, in collaboration with the team, has developed a different oil that will give us better performance. We were able to bring these developments here only thanks to a great teamwork that shows how much the whole team is pushing to make up ground.
The goal is to close the gap that separates the SF90 from Mercedes, bringing a contribution to performance from the mechanics and not only from the aerodynamic package that was decided for Montmelò with new wings (front and rear) more loaded, taking into account that in Barcelona 10 more horses are worth a gain of 0 “13 on lap time, since the Catalan track, despite what is being said, is quite sensitive to the power of the power units.
But what is the novelty that distinguishes this second engine of the Prancing Horse? The mouths at Maranello are sewn, but according to the few rumors that filter it would be time to debut the pistons in bi-metallic alloy capable of withstanding the greater stresses that there will be in the combustion chamber and the thermal expansion without affecting the reliability.
Up to now, the motorists directed by Corrado Iotti have used aluminium alloy pistons, while, after a couple of years of experimentation, the time seems ripe for the use of those in steel alloy that had not been set aside, but have been developed on a parallel plane.
It is true that steel pistons have a higher specific weight than aluminium ones, but they also have a greater capacity to resist deformation and temperatures.
Not only that, but thanks to Addicting Manufacturing, the technology that allows complex parts to be made using special 3D metal jet printers, it is now possible to make three-dimensional objects with a deposit of layers of powder composed of materials that would be complex to use in traditional casting processes.
The steel alloy (the second element seems to be very innovative) would have allowed the resolution of a piston that has no solid surfaces, but honeycomb, thanks to which it would have been possible to achieve values of stiffness and resistance to high temperatures higher than those of aluminum, reducing the weight that was the serious handicap at the beginning.
Ferrari’s engine in the first races proved to be rather thirsty in terms of fuel consumption: even at Baku Vettel and Leclerc were forced to slow down to save fuel, while the dominant W10 would have completed the Azerbaijani GP with over 7 kg of fuel in the tank.
With Shell’s new oil at Maranello, they are convinced that they are reducing the friction of moving parts, contributing to a slight increase in performance and a reduction in fuel consumption.
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