Ferrari knows it needs to risk if it wants to fight to dethrone Mercedes. The good thing for those of Maranello is that in 2022 the new rules arrive. And there they may have a chance to win. What is evident is that in this 2021 they will have almost impossible to beat those of Toto Wolff. In the ‘Scuderia’ they set for the season that begins in Bahrin as real objectives to get on the podium and improve the performance of last year.
The fact is that the plan is to regain the really competitive pulse next year. For this they have opted for a revolution in the power unit. At least that is what the journalist Franco Nugnes assures in the Italian edition of ‘Motorsport’. They are going to play it and in what way … To begin with, next year’s car could be born with a completely new supercharger system.
Ferrari’s claim is “separate the compressor from the turbo, going in the direction of what Mercedes has been pursuing since the beginning of the hybrid era in 2014, that is, with the arrangement of the first at the front of the 6-cylinder, chassis side, and the second positioned as always on the rear. rear, while today both are grouped in the direction of the gearbox. Naturally, the two elements will be connected by an axis in accordance with the regulations, following a technical approach that was developed by Stella, but later also followed by Honda. “
In addition, the objective is to bring the compressor inside the 6-cylinder intake box, and with a new arrangement of the ‘intercooler’. It would be a novel and very brave bet to return to the top. This is an obvious risk because the 2022 engine will not evolve in the course of the year and could be frozen in the future..
In short, the team that has Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz as pilots it aspires to have a power unit as the most powerful, but at the same time that favors aerodynamics, limiting the resistance that was one of the serious defects of the SF1000.
Furthermore, Ferrari seeks a “kind of miniaturization from the top of the engine which will also mean a significant weight saving: we are talking about something never seen in F1 with great risks from a reliability point of view, as it is a completely new solution that will take time to develop and adjust ” says Nugnes.