Despite the fact that Scuderia Ferrari’s power unit upgrade was expected for the Turkish Grand Prix, the Maranello team worked hard to have it ready for the next round of the 2021 Formula 1 season, the Russian Grand Prix.
After the Hungarian Grand Prix, Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto admitted that the Italian side intended to bring an upgrade of the ERS system in the second part of the season, which he called “a significant step in performance” in terms of engine power. The new version was initially reported to bring gains of about 10-15BHP.
Scuderia Ferrari started the 2021 Formula One season using elements of their 2020 engine, thus choosing to switch to their 2021 specifications during the championship, which gave them the possibility to circumvent the freeze that does not allow Formula 1 teams to upgrade their power unit during the year. Yet team are allowed to bring a whole new Power Unit in 2021, which means that for the Maranello team swapping outdated parts with this year’s specification is still allowed.
The scheduled upgrade focuses on the ERS (Energy Recovery System), which consists of two kinetic units – the MGU-K (Motor Generator Unit – Kinetic) and MGU-H (Motor Generated Unit – Heat) – and the ES (Energy Store), the battery that stores the energy generated by the hybrid motors and makes it available to the driver over the lap.
Changing these elements on Charles Leclerc’s Power Unit was needed mainly due to the battery, the single part of the Monégasque’s second Power Unit Ferrari’s engineers were able to salvage after the crash on the opening lap at the Hungaroring circuit, that was showing signs of unreliability. The electrical interferences in Monza – which might be the cause of the engine braking issues that Charles suffered in Qualifying, were enough to make Ferrari intensify its work in order to have it available for Sochi and this avoid further problems on his third engine.
However, the Maranello team remains cautious in their predictions: the performance boost the upgrade will bring is thought to be less than 10HBP. In Thursday’s Press Conference ahead of the 2021 Russian Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc explained: “on paper, it seemed a little bit better, [but] we were not expecting a huge step forward anyway.”
The Monégasque driver continued by stating that for the Maranello team it was essential to test every upgrade as soon as possible, with less focus on the immediate improvement they could offer on track in the SF21 car: “Whenever we have something that is a little bit better, we try to bring it on-track […] We still feel like it’s going to be a step forward, but how much, we’ll have to see.” – he added.
The small steps might indeed be of the upmost importance for Ferrari in their fight against McLaren, which currently sits in third position in the Championship, 13.5 points clear of the Scuderia after their Monza 1-2.
“In a season like this, whatever we can have, we try to take. because with McLaren, the margins are very, very small. Whatever we can bring to the car to try and and beat them in that fight for the championship, we will try.” – Charles added.
While the Monegasque driver will be able to use the power unit upgrade starting with the event at Sochi Autodrom, his teammate Carlos Sainz has to wait to receive his own upgrade, as the Maranello team wanted to avoid having both cars start at the back of the grid at the same race. The Scuderia will decide on the change in the next few races, taking into account both the performance gain and the chances of overtaking on track. Instanbul Park and the Circuit of the Americas are both good candidates, but Ferrari will want to gather as much data as possible on that presumed “step forward” before taking a decision.
Source: formu1a.uno
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