What Ferrari will change to its engine for F1 2021

The 2020 campaign was derailed by a combination of a towing car further hampered by an engine that was less powerful than the 2019 version.

This lack of performance was the result of a series of pre-season technical guidelines issued by the FIA ​​to discourage teams from using clever tricks to circumvent fuel flow metering regulations.

The scale of Ferrari’s engine fighting was evident in pre-2020 testing, but any hopes of major engine improvements during the campaign were derailed by a development halt introduced in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

This meant that Ferrari had to go through the entire season on the same drive, with changes only possible over the winter.

Also read:

The team’s 2021 engine is currently in the advanced design phase and has some interesting developments that it hopes will provide a good boost in performance.

Ferrari does not intend to take revolutionary measures, but rather to gradually change all aspects of the thermal properties and the electric powertrain, which, in its view, will result in a substantial overall gain in its view.

It goes without saying that Ferrari was evaluating a change in the concept when it embarked on the Mercedes route of splitting the turbine and compressor on both sides of the internal combustion engine.

While the evaluation of this idea continues within the framework of a project group led by Wolff Zimmermann, who was commissioned to investigate innovative longer-term solutions with AVL in Graz, the two turbo components will remain where they were for the time being.

Instead, the most important change that Ferrari engine chief Enrico Gualtieri will introduce is the debut of a “super-fast” cylinder head, originally slated for launch in 2022.

The new design will help achieve stronger fuel atomization and higher pressure in the combustion chamber as the teams try to hit the 500 bar limit set in the regulations.

In addition to a redesigned piston crown (which is still made of steel) and intake ports on the camshaft, Ferrari may have considered using new alloys to ensure that reliability was not compromised by the increase in performance.

Also read:

The new Ferrari engine will also not abandon the wastegate valve (which can be removed for the first time this year) in order to maximize the aerodynamic effect of the burnt exhaust gas.

Reliability problems with the narrow exhausts appear to have been resolved as well, as a new gearbox has made the car’s Coca-Cola bottle area larger and the pipes therefore crammed into a smaller space.

The engine cooling systems were also redesigned to change the radiator design used in 2020 which created too much drag in the side pods and further affected the SF1000’s straight line speed.

The new Ferrari powerplant is also believed to have a slightly smaller turbine than the one used on the 065/2 to improve electrical charging.

The idea is a more efficient energy recovery system so that the MGU-K’s performance of approx. 160 HP lasts longer during the entire lap. This will be important in reducing Mercedes’ overall deficit.