Scuderia Ferrari confirms it has significantly updated its internal combustion engine and made major changes “under the bodywork” for its 2022 Formula 1 project, as the Italian side is confident these key updates will allow it to further close the gap to Mercedes and Red Bull starting with the next championship.
Formula 1’s most famous team has been struggling in the last two years, as its last race win dates back to the 2019 Singapore Grand Prix. Since 2020, the Maranello team is trying to recover from a major setback in performance, mostly on the power unit side but also with its chassis. An investigation which took place late in the 2019 Formula 1 season regarding Ferrari’s engine performance led to FIA technical directives that clamped down on certain techniques and therefore Ferrari’s power unit concept lost a lot of power the following year.
Scuderia Ferrari tried to address the issue ahead of the start of the 2021 campaign and later introduced a new hybrid system during the season which indeed led to significant improvement in terms of performance and was the basis of the 2022 design’s energy recovery system. Another key aspect for the Maranello team will be the development of a new V6, in order to optimise the design for the new 10% ethanol fuels that Formula 1 is adopting in 2022 but mainly as part of an ambitious project to reduce the remaining engine deficit.
“The power unit is significantly different to the current one, except the hybrid” – Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto explained – “There will be some changes to the hybrid system for 2022 as first for the regulations because more sensors are acquired from FIA in all the systems. But the overall system is very similar to the one we raced at the end of the season. The rest, especially on the internal combustion engine, I have to say is significantly different. We’ve got a new fuel, which is the 10% ethanol, which changed the combustion a lot. Just considering that different fuel, whatever is the supplier so it’s not down to the supplier, we are losing more or less 20 horsepower, which means the combustion itself is quite changed. So there were a lot of opportunities in development on the power unit and we changed it quite a lot, especially in the design of the combustion itself.” – he added.
The new 10% ethanol fuel forced all power unit manufacturer to make changes, while each team is also focused on the development of the new projects for 2022, as they hope the completely new technical regulations will give them the chance to move up the grid. The 2022 technical regulations represent a major departure from the aerodynamic platform of the previous generation of F1 cars.
Despite the fact that some concerns exist regarding FIA making the rules too prescriptive, the Ferrari boss feels there has still been room for innovation and that Ferrari has implemented new ideas beyond the surface aero components: “
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“The way we approach the exercise was really open-minded. When looking at the car concept, what was possible or not – which is not only the external shapes but whatever you could have done under the bodywork in terms of layout, in terms of suspension design, in terms of the architecture, including as well the power architecture – I think that the team made significant innovations. The overall design that we are now formalising is quite different to the 2021 project.” – Mattia Binotto added.
Scuderia Ferrari showed some good signs of improvement in the 2021 Formula 1 season, winning the battle for the ‘best of the rest’ status against McLaren. However, the Italian side was still far behind the two main protagonists: Ferrari finished 290 points behind title winner Mercedes in the championship and had an average deficit of more than 0.7% – roughly six tenths around a hypothetical 90-second lap.
As a results, the 2022 project has been a “priority” and “necessity” for Ferrari as Mattia Binotto does not believe it would be possible to have a “good or competitive car” in 2022 with a normal development approach. The upshot is Mattia Binotto feels Ferrari should be able to fight for race wins once again this season and “whatever we have is the best result of a team effort and that’s important to us” – but that it may be too early for a consistent challenge.
“What will be important for us next year is to keep on growing. And it is to further reduce the gap to the competitors. The new regulations are a clear opportunity. The hope is to be competitive and for me to be competitive is to be in the position of winning races. Would that mean that we can fight for a championship? If I look at today, the gap is still big. But as Ferrari, it’s part of our DNA. What is important is to be capable of fighting at least in some races for pole and for the win. That is the simple consequence of continuous growth and improvement. I would be disappointed if we have not improved from this year. At the start of next year, maybe at the start of the season, there will be a difference in competitiveness between the cars because of the way each team may have interpreted the rules and solutions you may bring. What is important as Ferrari is being capable of understanding weaknesses and addressing them very quickly. It’s team reaction which will be key.” – the Ferrari boss concluded.
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