Ferrari poised to introduce F1 engine boost at Canadian Grand Prix

[vcs316]

WOOOOHOOOOO, finally!!!! :clap


Ferrari will introduce an engine step at the Canadian Grand Prix as part of a major Formula 1 development push.

Although power units are homologated, Ferrari believes that performance gains can be made by running its engines with more aggressive settings now that it is more comfortable with reliability.

Ferrari technical director James Allison said: "On the engine side, the only changes that you are allowed to make to hardware are for reliability so there is no opportunity for performance there.

"But there is a lot of opportunity to get more horsepower out of the same hardware as you increase your confidence in how hard you can push it.

"As time goes by on the dynos, you learn exactly where you can exploit the performance more, and that brings you confidence to bring new settings at the track that deliver actual horsepower to the wheels.

"That happens continuously and we do have a step in that direction coming in Canada."

Allison says that car updates should also come on tap over the next few grands prix.

"We bought some upgrades to China that worked reasonably well. The car had a good weekend there - that was a combination of some improvements that we made and a track that suited us a little bit better.

"We bought some things to Spain as well, but it was a much more modest set of pieces.

"All the big teams have similar sized facilities and a similar approach to work, so it is very difficult to achieve a rate of improvement that is substantially different to the people we are fighting with.

"However, we've had a race or two where the pieces we brought to the track were useful but not big steps forward. We hope in the coming races to have a more steady progression of things which we hope will lift us up."

BIGGER STEPS A LONG TERM AMBITION

Despite Allison's optimism over the engine and chassis steps, he is aware that bigger progress is going to take time.

Having arrived only during the final stages of development of the F14 T, his impact on its design was quite limited.

But having pushed for some direction changes at the team, he believes a brighter long-term future is achievable.

"I think the key thing in this sport is to do the right thing and to do it long enough for it to have an effect," he said.

"Much of what Ferrari does is already right. There are some things when I arrived I wished to change direction on and improve upon, and time will tell whether my judgement is correct.

"I hope we'll see some of the results of that this season, I hope more the next and even more the next.

"It's a sport where you build up your power, you maintain your power, and utilise your power by doing the right thing for long enough with a mixture of short, medium and long term plans. That's what I'm trying to do."

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/114085

[Sanomas]

Sounds great!

I can't wait to see...

[FerrariF60]

Sounds great!

I can't wait to see...

me too, i'll be at teh canadian GP, hopefully we'll do much better there and let's hope the ferraris will challange the MERC's somewhat or how

[20000rpm]

IMHO, Alison would do good if he talks less and let the results speak for themselves. I am afraid he is slowly becoming victim to SD syndrome, to which even people like LDM have fallen trap to and the antidote ain't available.

[Kingdom Hearts]

But is only a software update?, I think the president said that it was something bigger.

[Hornet]

IMHO, Alison would do good if he talks less and let the results speak for themselves. I am afraid he is slowly becoming victim to SD syndrome, to which even people like LDM have fallen trap to and the antidote ain't available.

On Sky channel at the last race, they mentioned that drivers are contractually obligated to speak to the media. They have to talk to the media. This is why drivers attend press conference and after the race, they have to go to the media area to answer questions. I would imagine that key personal in every teams would have their own obligations to speak to the media.

This is part of being in F1.

[Kiwi Nick]

But is only a software update?, I think the president said that it was something bigger.

Ferrari technical director James Allison said: "On the engine side, the only changes that you are allowed to make to hardware are for reliability so there is no opportunity for performance there.

That is pretty clear. Ferrari cannot change the hardware, except for the sake of reliability. Any hardware change that results in increased performance will not be allowed. However, if the team push the software for more performance and the increase in performance causes a reliability problem, the PU can be modified to make it reliable at the increased performance level. That Kimi blew an ICE a the test session in Spain should allow Ferrari to make the case that reliability modifications need to be made. Those changes, if allowed,
could mean a more powerful engine with satisfactory reliability. But, these changes must follow in order; first increased output from tweaking the software, then modifications to make the PU reliable at the higher output.

[djmorin27]

Hi Ferrari f60 were are you sitting.A few of us are headed up to.should be there mid morning friday.Maybe we can hang for awhile we are sitting in g/s 34 this year.how long have you been going to the gp for

[hogo]

Wait if its only a software change why the hell Ferrari was waiting so long to make some changes??? Engine was reliable from the get go so why wait 3 or so months??? At this rate we will never catch up to Mercs, we will never even catch Renault. This is why we fail, we are not aggressive enough, we don't risk enough, we play safe and we lose. MM do something!

[wisepie]

Wait if its only a software change why the hell Ferrari was waiting so long to make some changes??? Engine was reliable from the get go so why wait 3 or so months??? At this rate we will never catch up to Mercs, we will never even catch Renault. This is why we fail, we are not aggressive enough, we don't risk enough, we play safe and we lose. MM do something!

Only problem there will be when the engines decide to explode and we'll end up with no points at all, so maybe caution isn't always wrong? I get your point, though.:Hmm

[Rob]

James, hasnt really had a hand in designing F-14T, as he joined us to late. But, will help get the car to the front. This, is the first step, of many.

[Tifoso]

James, hasnt really had a hand in designing F-14T, as he joined us to late. But, will help get the car to the front. This, is the first step, of many.

:clap

[Nero Horse]

Wait if its only a software change why the hell Ferrari was waiting so long to make some changes??? Engine was reliable from the get go so why wait 3 or so months??? At this rate we will never catch up to Mercs, we will never even catch Renault. This is why we fail, we are not aggressive enough, we don't risk enough, we play safe and we lose. MM do something!

I think it's much better to play it safe and be absolutely sure that we can crank up the engine power output without affecting reliability, rather than to crank it up and then have nasty engine blow-ups during race weekends. Thus far our engine reliability has been simply outstanding and it's been that way exactly thanks to "playing it safe". I just hope the engine settings that are coming to Canada have been thoroughly tested and the increase of power won't have a negative effect on the reliability. Having a more powerful engine would be fantastic of course, but if it isn't reliable then all that extra power would be pretty much useless.

[hogo]

Only problem there will be when the engines decide to explode and we'll end up with no points at all, so maybe caution isn't always wrong? I get your point, though.:Hmm

We have 66 points after 5 races, Merc has 197. Those 66 do nothing for us, we could get that much if we take 2 and 3rd in Abu Dhabi... I say we should risk, do whatever it takes to change the situation. I doubt Ferrari desperately needs prize money that they could get for 2nd/3rd/4th positions in WCC. If that money is not important, then hell yeah, push till everything starts to blow up!

[Sanomas]

me too, i'll be at teh canadian GP, hopefully we'll do much better there and let's hope the ferraris will challange the MERC's somewhat or how

That's fantastic! I'm glad to hear that you gonna be there!

And like you said...let's have hope that we do better in there, the team got potential and effort to make, this is going to be good!

[Hornet]

We have 66 points after 5 races, Merc has 197. Those 66 do nothing for us, we could get that much if we take 2 and 3rd in Abu Dhabi... I say we should risk, do whatever it takes to change the situation. I doubt Ferrari desperately needs prize money that they could get for 2nd/3rd/4th positions in WCC. If that money is not important, then hell yeah, push till everything starts to blow up!

There are only 5 power units allowed for the entire season, so you can't simply turn them into fireworks just for fun.

[ntukza]

I like this guy. #James Allison.

[Ferrari Rules]

James Allison is a great F1 designer and will be given a lot more power within Ferrari as time goes by. I mean look at the Lotus last year and with a 1/4 of Ferrari's budget.

Next year's car will be quick I have no doubt about it!

[stefa]

James Allison is a great F1 designer and will be given a lot more power within Ferrari as time goes by. I mean look at the Lotus last year and with a 1/4 of Ferrari's budget.

Next year's car will be quick I have no doubt about it!

Just to live up to that next year....

[hogo]

There are only 5 power units allowed for the entire season, so you can't simply turn them into fireworks just for fun.

So if we use all 5, we are not allowed to race any more?

[Winter]

I think it's much better to play it safe and be absolutely sure that we can crank up the engine power output without affecting reliability, rather than to crank it up and then have nasty engine blow-ups during race weekends. Thus far our engine reliability has been simply outstanding and it's been that way exactly thanks to "playing it safe". I just hope the engine settings that are coming to Canada have been thoroughly tested and the increase of power won't have a negative effect on the reliability. Having a more powerful engine would be fantastic of course, but if it isn't reliable then all that extra power would be pretty much useless.

I think it would have been better to make engine with more power and less reliability, than this reliable powerless one. Reliability issues could have been fixed during the season, but now we can only upgrade the software to get more power.

[F1NAC]

So if we use all 5, we are not allowed to race any more?

no we will have grid penalty

[hudson77]

Maybe it would have been best to make an aggressive unreliable pu and modify under reliability issues instead :Hmm

[Nero Horse]

I think it would have been better to make engine with more power and less reliability, than this reliable powerless one. Reliability issues could have been fixed during the season, but now we can only upgrade the software to get more power.

That's a good point actually. But if we would have a more powerful engine that would keep blowing up in every race then we'd be in pretty much the same situation as we are right now, if not even worse. This reliable engine that we have right now has at least allowed us to gather some points, whereas with a more powerful but unreliable engine all we could do is fight for pole in quali and then watch our good positions evaporate in the race with a big white puff of smoke. As the old saying goes: "To finish first, you must first finish." The best way would be of course if we could have a very powerful and at the same time a very reliable engine, hopefully it will arrive in Canada. ;-)

And besides, we have only 5 engines per season, so we can't risk losing reliability. If we blow up all 5 engines then we'll start getting 10 place grid penalties in every race.

[shamim179]

Very interesting point there. I also thought along the lines like that privately.

Ferrari's approach is too old school. We're in a different era where progress can happen very quickly. Mercedes PU's were blowing up and so were Renault's. Look how much they improved by. I don't think we've been clever with our approach here. Conservative is ok but not overly conservative.

[Winter]

That's a good point actually. But if we would have a more powerful engine that would keep blowing up in every race then we'd be in pretty much the same situation as we are right now, if not even worse. This reliable engine that we have right now has at least allowed us to gather some points, whereas with a more powerful but unreliable engine all we could do is fight for pole in quali and then watch our good positions evaporate in the race with a big white puff of smoke. As the old saying goes: "To finish first, you must first finish." The best way would be of course if we could have a very powerful and at the same time a very reliable engine, hopefully it will arrive in Canada. ;-)

And besides, we have only 5 engines per season, so we can't risk losing reliability. If we blow up all 5 engines then we'll start getting 10 place grid penalties in every race.

Yes I agree mostly, but at least we would have free hands to fix the problem and rules wouldn't be against us.

And I would be happy to change couple of grid penalties to competitive engine.

But it is what it is and lets hope that the software upgrade works well in Canada.

[Dino]

Seems you have all forgotten that ;
[1.]The 2014 F1 rules limit each driver to just 100kg of fuel per race. This is one of the major challenges of the new rules, forcing teams to use up to 60% less fuel per race without sacrificing performance.
[2.]The power is limited by the 100 kilo fuel per hour flow.
Teams will not be allowed to exceed a fuel intake of 100kg/hour.It is monitored by a fuel flow meter.
It is a well known fact that over 1400BHP could be achieved without the 2 big restrictions above.
Ferrari cannot just up the power without keeping within those restrictions.
Mercedes has done a better job but we will get there i'm sure.

[20000rpm]

On Sky channel at the last race, they mentioned that drivers are contractually obligated to speak to the media. They have to talk to the media. This is why drivers attend press conference and after the race, they have to go to the media area to answer questions. I would imagine that key personal in every teams would have their own obligations to speak to the media.

This is part of being in F1.
Yes you are right. I agree they are obligated to talk to the media and discuss how are they progressing. But, I always think that since we are unable to 'walk the talk' our upgrades not working, building up the hype and not delivering upon, or other teams getting ahead of us in the development race, I think we need to focus more on what ails and try to improve.
Off course the guys at the factory know best and some information is necessary to keep the public spirits high but as long as we are down follow the RB or Mercedes approach of working quietly.