Honda had been clear over the winter in pointing out that it would be a mistake to expect the same power from the 2022 Formula 1 engines, in light of the use of new biofuels made with 10% ethanol. Yasuaki Asagi, head of the development of the RA621H, explained for Autosport: “The engine architecture had already been set in 2021 and we had to make corrections because the power and energy to equal weight of an E10 petrol (the acronym that identifies biofuels 2022) are reduced, because it is the characteristic of alcoholic fuel (ie with a percentage of ethanol inside) “. Obviously, the corrections made were not sufficient at the moment to find the correct combination of power and reliability.
The performance of the power unit is not discussed, but the reliability is back to pre-2019 levels, when after a three-year nightmare with McLaren, at that stage Toro Rosso was the traveling laboratory of Honda in view of the partnership with Red Bull starting from 2019.
Three years ago, it was Ferrari that impressed with the performance of the power unit, performance then drastically reduced in 2020 following the secret agreement between the Scuderia from Maranello and the FIA, notified on the occasion of the conclusion of the 2020 winter tests held in Barcelona. The press release issued by the Federation was as follows: “The FIA announces that, after in-depth technical investigations, it has concluded its analysis of the functioning of the Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 power unit and has reached an agreement with the team. The specifics of the agreement will remain between the parties. The FIA and Scuderia Ferrari have agreed on a series of technical commitments that will improve the monitoring of all Formula 1 power units for the next championship seasons, as well as assist the FIA in other regulation tasks in Formula 1 and its activities of research on carbon emissions and sustainable fuels”.
With regard to the agreement between Ferrari and the Federation, team principal Mattia Binotto in an interview subsequently released to Sky Sport F1 had strongly emphasized that the Scuderia di Maranello had never been found illegal following every analysis conducted by the FIA and that naturally the number one of Maranello wanted to protect the industrial secret relating to the Ferrari power unit from the prying eyes of the adversaries: “The Federation has never found us illegal. If that were the case, we would have been disqualified. The Federation checked us for many races, at every single GP, to try to understand and ascertain, without ever finding an irregularity. The agreement was to say ‘let’s focus on the future, let’s help us understand the gray areas’. There have been clarifications on these. Secret deal? I would say it’s normal: what should we do, show everyone our engine and our secrets? Nobody has ever done it in F1, we don’t have to start doing it now.”
The conclusion of the press release of the Federation that we have reported in its entirety evokes the sustainable fuels that made their debut this season which is marking the redemption of the Maranello team from all points of view, from the management of the tires to the power of the engine, even if at the moment is not used at full power in odrer not to jeopardize the reliability, as explained by formulapassion.it..
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Marc Surer, former F1 driver, interviewed by the German newspaper F1-insider.com emphasized precisely two aspects by analyzing the strengths of the F1-75 and among these is the excellent work of the partner Shell in terms of fuel: “In Maranello they built a compact car that may not be as fast as the Red Bull, but it is relatively easy to configure in terms of set-up. The RB18, on the other hand, is much more sophisticated (it is no coincidence that Helmut Marko called it a ‘prima donna’). For Ferrari it is easier to express maximum performance, or in any case to get close to it. In addition, the FIA press release in which reference was made to sustainable fuels should not be forgotten. It is likely that Ferrari may have made the most of this regulation change by focusing on research of biofuels for longer than its rivals”.
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