Ferrari surprised the world with its new car for the 2022 season: the F1-75. However, innovation is not limited to what is seen with the naked eye and the engine is an important part of the bet this year.
When in February 2020 the FIA announced that it had reached a private agreement with the Scuderia ferrari to solve the investigation of supposed illegality in the Italian engine, the crossing through the desert of the formation based in Maranello began.
The details of the agreement were never known, but time has made it clear that it included a considerable reduction in engine performance that the team led by Mattia Binotto was going to use in that season.
“The freezing of engines has stimulated us, even forced us, to look for even more daring design solutions”
The result could not have been more disastrous, with Ferrari finishing sixth in the constructors’ championship. In 2021, the engine experienced a notable improvement, but not enough to stand up to Mercedes and Honda.
full renovation
As a result of all this, Ferrari made the decision to almost completely renew the engine for the 2022 season, at which time the new technical regulations come into force.
Enrico Gualtierihead of engines of the team Ferrari notes that the 2022 power unit has been “an unconventional project, extreme in terms of vehicle installation, design and many of the internals.”
This takes on even more importance given the fact that, before the start of the 2022 season, the power units will be approved and frozen until the end of 2025at which point a new engine regulation will be introduced.
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Said homologation will be carried out in two phases: the first March 1st for the combustion engine (ICE), the turbocharger, the MGU-H, the exhaust system, the fuel and the engine oil, while the MGU-K, the batteries and the control electronics will be frozen on September 1 .
“Compared to previous years, it has spurred, even compelled, us to seek even more daring design solutions, given the significant time constraints, in particular the upcoming freeze. Let’s just say it has had its impact.”Gualtieri admits.
Maximum effort
All this, in the context of the new budget limit, has meant that Ferrari has had to make a notable effort, since in practice it has had to create a brand new single seater almost from scratch.
“We have had to push all of our programs to the absolute limit. We have had to keep the door open for all possible evolutions, until the last moment»Gualtieri reiterates.
“Certainly, we have had to take all the necessary risks. We had to further accelerate our development in a world that is already going a thousand miles an hour. There is a lot that is new and innovative about this power unit,” says Gualtieri.
“Suffice it to say that the percentage of new internal combustion engine components, compared to the previous season, is one of the highest in recent years. There is innovation in terms of content, but also architecture, distribution and design in general », he points out.
News in all areas
In 2021, Ferrari has already experienced a breakthrough. The introduction of a significant hybrid upgrade, with new power management that saw the system increase from 400 volts to 800 volts in the last third of the season, was also an important step.
And, while that update has largely been carried over to the new engine, there have been some changes driven by accumulated track data by Ferrari in the final stages of last year. In any case, the main point of attention has been the V6 engine and the turbocharger.
“The internal combustion engine and the turbocharger are definitely the key elements of the 2022 power unit. The hybrid system is another step in the evolution that we brought to the track at the end of last season.” Gualtieri clarifies.
«Electronics has also had to change a lothaving to adapt to the needs of a completely new concept car and an engine that is very different from last year.”
“This power unit represents the third step of our development goal. The first stage was the engine at the beginning of last season, the second was the evolution of the hybrid systemtaken to the track at the end of 2021”, highlights the Italian engineer.
E10 gasoline
As if this were not enough, Ferrari and the rest of the motorcyclists have also had to face one more challenge: the change in regulations that requires that the biocomponent of the fuel increase from 5.75% to 10%. In other words, the E10 fuel to be used this year must comprise 10% renewable ethanolwhich has posed a significant challenge to all engine manufacturers.
“The introduction of the 10% ethanol limit reduces the energy content of the gasoline that we are allowed to use. Therefore, it has an impact on performance, both in terms of engine power and energy recovery exhaust gases”, explains Gualtieri.
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“It is also true that ethanol has some characteristics that are not necessarily negative for combustion, but that must be properly exploited with a suitable engine design.”
“But, in the end, we have a performance loss of the order of 20 hp. However, the technical impact of introducing ethanol into fuel goes beyond the performance aspect, given the extreme nature of our product”, he concludes.