Ferrari has been praised for its stupendous performance and the decent progress the team has made with the new engine.
Ferrari has made a good impression in the pre-season testing in Barcelona. The Italian team completed more than 300 laps in the first two days of the three-day testing.
So far, the team has not encountered any teething problems with their machine. Even if one occurs, the team is quick to find a solution and therefore the car doesn’t stay in the garage for long.
However, it is still too early to draw any conclusions on how the team will perform in the upcoming championship. Even though innovative technologies such as simulations help teams in drawing close assessments, it is difficult to make any direct comparison.
New Engines before it is too late
In the 2022 season, not just the car, the engines are new as well. It is not just because of the switch to E10 petrol or the fact that this is the last opportunity to do so before the development freezes till 2026.
From this season the fuel will have 10% biological waste added to it, due to which the entire combustion had to be changed.
Manufacturers have time until September to work on the components of their ICE(Internal Combustion Engine). After that, the development would only be permitted if there is an issue with reliability.
Binotto: “The first step for us is to optimize what we have, as Carlos said, we are still far from the best performance, not only because we are running high fuel or the best engine mode, but simply because I think there is a lot more to exploit from the car itself.”
— tami. (@Vetteleclerc) February 25, 2022
Looking at the impressive work of the prancing horse, the world champions – Mercedes said that they have never done so much work on the engine from one year to another. Many believe that the Brackley-based team is not yet at the level of their 2021 performance.
Milton-Keynes based Red Bull also said in winter that they had not yet made up for the losses caused by E10. On paper, the new fuel is predicted to reduce the pace by 20 HP.
Ferrari has made a big leap
Like others on the paddock, Ferrari also does not have concrete figures. However, it seems like the team has made a big leap with the new engine. The Italian giants lost a lot of power in 2019 and recorded their worst performance.
In 2020, Ferrari lagged behind by 50 HP. In 2021, the team somehow managed to close the gap to 20 to 25 HP. They closed the gap by a further one to two tenths after they brought in a new hybrid system late in the season.
For this year, the team wanted to close the gap with the leader – Mercedes. Therefore, the Maranello team took the risk to bring some big developments into their work. Personnel from the team said, “You had to do that to be competitive.”
“The reliability can be improved, but not the performance over the next four seasons.”
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said, “We have the feeling that Ferrari currently has the most powerful engine. But you have to classify the whole thing: Only two test days have been completed. Ferrari shouldn’t be praised too soon. Winter tests can be deceiving.”
Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto also said, “We’re not the favourites, we’re the outsiders.”
