Fredrik Westin, a Swede based in Maranello since 2012, is the turbocharger specialist within the technical group led by Enrico Gualtieri, head of the engine department. In Montreal, lower temperatures are expected, which will help the power units perform better. At the Canadian GP, the PU runs at full throttle for 73% of the lap.
In the past, the Gilles Villeneuve circuit was particularly feared by engine engineers. Seventy-three percent of the 4.361 km track is covered with the throttle fully open, which for many years raised serious reliability concerns.
Today’s power units allow engineers to rest easier, but from a performance standpoint, the Montreal round remains one of the most demanding. On the eve of the Canadian weekend, Fredrik Westin—one of the key figures in Ferrari’s powertrain department with extensive experience in turbochargers—spoke about the challenge.
“The Gilles Villeneuve Circuit features fast straights and tight corners where braking and acceleration are crucial,” explained the Swedish engineer. “Nine of the 14 corners are tight—90 degrees or more—and the final chicane is notorious for catching out drivers who get too close to the wall at the exit of Turn 14. The lap time sensitivity related to energy and power recovery is close to the season average.”
“The straights are relatively long and give the turbocharger ample margin to recover the energy required by the hybrid system. Weather conditions are quite variable. This year we expect slightly lower temperatures, which is good news both for the PU cooling system and the compressor’s performance.”
Before 2022 (the year when the current power unit specifications were frozen), the Montreal race often coincided with the introduction of new specifications, sometimes featuring major performance upgrades.
Today, the focus is on rotating the PUs, with the goal of having the freshest units available at tracks where engine performance plays a decisive role.
“The annual planning is based on three priority principles,” Westin confirmed. “First, we must cover the whole season while minimizing the risk of failures during races. Therefore, we aim to evenly distribute component mileage throughout the year, so that the highest race mileage each unit undergoes remains as low as possible. We also factor in the characteristics of each circuit and are ready to respond to post-race inspections.”
“Secondly, it’s important to have spare parts available that can be used without incurring penalties—for example, still being able to use the third PU when the fourth (the final one allowed by the regulations) is introduced. There are various reasons why already-used elements might need to be brought back: of course, failures or breakages, but also crashes or warning signals in telemetry data, which could force the team to carry out technical checks on a part that was intended for race use.”
“In these situations, naturally, we don’t want to introduce a fifth power unit (or a third battery pack) and receive a penalty. Finally, we use a fresh PU at races where having maximum power is essential. That said, we try not to introduce them too early in the season, so we maintain some flexibility to respond to setbacks or problems later on.”
Fredrik Westin has been at Ferrari for thirteen seasons, a period during which the scope of his role has expanded. “I arrived in Maranello in the summer of 2012,” he explained. “I hold a PhD in turbochargers, and after university, I worked for various automotive companies doing R&D on turbochargers, mostly for road cars.” – he pointed out.
“Turbochargers were reintroduced in F1 in 2014, and Ferrari was looking for an engineer experienced in the field. For me, it was the perfect time—and a dream job. Since then, I’ve worked on the turbocharger for the F1 car, with responsibilities that have steadily increased.”
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