Scuderia Ferrari won the 2022 F1 Opening Round Bahrain Grand Prix with a new F1-75 in a 1-2 finish. F1 journalist Mark Hughes is looking at the new F1 power unit “Tipo 066/7” as one of the key factors in success.
It’s very clear that Scuderia Ferrari has created a great car, the F1-75. Even before Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) retired, Charles Leclerc’s victory seemed certain.
The Ferrari F1-75 appears to have an excellent chassis balance that is easy to drive and a highly effective power unit.
Even in Barcelona’s first pre-season test, Mercedes F1 team representative Toto Wolff commented that Ferrari’s F1 power unit looks the strongest of all. Especially considering the very strong performance of the Haas F1 Team and the Alfa Romeo F1 Team equipped with Ferrari’s F1 power unit at the Bahrain Grand Prix, it was an impression that I did nothing to argue.
The Tipo 066/7 power unit is essentially entirely new, with only the ERS energy recovery and battery system introduced at the 2021 Russian Grand Prix taking over.
Scuderia Ferrari’s team principal and former engineer Mattia Binotto confirmed that when the car went on sale.
“The hybrid is very similar to the one raced at the end of the season, it’s just a sensor that meets the requirements of different FIA 2022. I have to say that the rest, especially the internal combustion engine, is quite different.”
“We got a new fuel. It’s 10% ethanol, which makes a big difference in combustion. We’re all losing more or less 20 horsepower, which means that the combustion itself has changed a lot.”
“There are many opportunities to develop the power unit, especially the design of the combustion itself has changed significantly.”
The project is led by Wolf Zimmermann, who heads Ferrari’s advanced projects / innovative solutions program. He previously worked for the engineering contractor Graz AvL, which worked for several F1 manufacturers. Ferrari’s new F1 power unit is believed to feature intercooler innovation (and interestingly, Mercedes as well), but last year’s biggest breakthrough was the combination of ultra-fast ignition and a more turbulent intake air-fuel mixture. It is rumored to be. By spreading to the edge of the combustion chamber faster, the fuel pressure of up to 500 bar allowed by the regulation can be further utilized.
Uniquely, it retains the turbine / compressor architecture used in previous Ferrari hybrid engines. Every other manufacturer is now using the split turbo concept. However, there have been major changes in combustion, with Ferrari surpassing the 2021 unit, despite the 2022 E10 fuel regulation. That said, Ferrari himself admits that last year’s power unit was about 20 horsepower inferior to Mercedes and Honda.
Charles Leclerc took pole position at the Bahrain Grand Prix 0.123 seconds behind Max Verstappen. A detailed comparison of their laps and a comparison of the two cars in a wheel-to-wheel battle that took place over three laps after the first pit stop of the race gave a clearer picture of Ferrari’s strengths. can.
Scuderia Ferrari is running more downforce, with Red Bull Racing 7km / h faster in qualifying speed traps (Max Verstappen is second only to Sergio Perez, Charles Leclerc is (11th place), but looking at the speed trace, it is clear that Ferrari had stronger acceleration per lap.
Scuderia Ferrari pulled away at the exit of the corner and Red Bull Racing was approaching only towards the end of the straight. That’s why all of Max Verstappen’s overtaking attempts were made on Turn 1, not Turn 4.
When Max Verstappen’s race engineer reminded him that it was possible to overtake on Turn 4, Max Verstappen’s reply was “OK. But I can’t get close enough to him on Turn 1 because of that. ” The benefits of Ferrari’s acceleration were also seen at the exits of turns 4, 8 and 10. This is confirmed by GPS speed tracing.
Between the exit of Turn 4 and the end of Sector 1 just before Turn 5, Scuderia Ferrari gained about 3 km / h against Red Bull Racing when accelerating. Charles Leclerc is the fastest across the line and Max Verstappen is only 14th. Interestingly, the second and third fastest cars at that point are the Alfa Romeo F1 Guanyu Zhou and the Haas F1 Mick Schumacher, both of which are equipped with Ferrari’s F1 power units.
Of course, there are many reasons why one car accelerates faster than another.
Gearing is one of the most obvious. Scuderia Ferrari may have had shorter overall gearing than Red Bull Racing, with some parts of Charles Leclerc running in higher gear than Max Verstappen in qualifying. Leclerc was in 8th gear in front of the braking zone on Turn 4, when Verstappen was 7th. On Turn 5, Verstappen downshifted to 5th, while Leclerc stayed in 6th.
In the entry to the slow turns of Turn 8 and Turn 10, Max Verstappen was in 2nd gear and Leclerc was in 3rd gear. On the straight between turns 10 and 11, Verstappen was in 7th gear and Leclerc was back in top gear, 8th gear. In the final turn 14/15 compound corner, Verstappen was in Leclerc 4th gear where he was downshifting to 3rd gear.
The gear ratio in the box is selected by the team and set according to the season (only one change is allowed this year). Scuderia Ferrari may have chosen to run a shorter ratio set in lower gear. It’s also possible that the engine was very powerful, or that the two could accelerate faster, even with equivalent gear.
If all the good acceleration depends on the power unit, it allows the Scuderia Ferrari to use more downforce. The terminal velocity of the car will be slower, but what is important for the lap time is not the maximum speed to reach the end, but the time from the beginning to the end of the straight, which is of course very important during the conflict.
Given that the F1 power unit was virtually frozen until 2026, Ferrari seems to have been a huge success.
Category: Category: F1 / Ferrari / F1 machine