vcs316
23rd March 2015, 02:51
Ferrari's performance in the Australian Grand Prix may have come as something of a surprise to some, but anyone who had been keeping a close eye on the pre-season tests would have noticed that both it and Sauber looked to have made the biggest step forward during the break.
Indeed, only Mercedes had the legs (albeit long ones) over the Ferrari in Melbourne, while Sauber – with all due respect – is unlikely to have made such a leap from no points in 2014 to a top five return with just chassis modifications alone.
Rival engineers admit that a quick check of the GPS data allied to pictures of the wing angles on the cars reveal that the Italians have a lot of power, but at a time when Christian Horner is calling for engine equalisation as Renault struggles to harness speed and reliability, how have Ferrari made such substantial gains over a relatively short winter period?
Between the three power units of Mercedes, Renault and Ferrari, it was clear that the latter was struggling under its own weight and not producing enough power. On top of that, the power delivery was not all that strong and the drivers were unhappy with its throttle response. Some of these issues were solved with software tweaks but overall the power unit's poor performance was arguably a result of its overall design concept.
Ferrari decided early on to compromise the outright performance of the V6 engine and the hybrid system mated to it, in order to make it as small as possible and help the aero guys get the most out of the bodywork. Consequently, however, this requires that both the engine department and the aerodynamic department work incredibly closely together on many interlinked areas of the car such as the cooling system, and overall shape of the car and it appears that Ferrari got this very wrong in late 2013.
It is easy to get wrong, the reason being that every change to the power unit installation will have a huge impact on the cars aerodynamics, while every change to the body work has an impact on the power unit. If a change to the bodywork means that the cars exhausts have to be a different shape costing power then it needs to be calculated which gives the faster lap time; the tighter body and the reduced power or the increased power and the bigger body?
It appears to me that in 2015 Ferrari has dropped this concept and let the power unit be the best it can be. Additionally some of the problems with the 2014 unit have been fixed. According to senior team members the MGU-H was not able to harvest as much energy as it should have done from the turbocharger, and that led to reduced power overall during races. On top of that the combustion chamber was not as good as it should have been and as a result that has been fully reworked.
Perhaps in an attempt to improve the performance of the turbo and MGU-H Ferrari has totally changed its exhaust concept. Though I am still to have a good look at it, I can see that the manifold is totally different and is positioned much lower in the car. It's easy to see this by comparing the Sauber or Ferrari, engine cover removed, with the Marussia MR03B in a similar state. The Marussia of course (run by the Manor team) uses the old 2014 V6 with the exhausts looping up over the engine. Notably the new exhausts feature heat shields and, for much of 2014, the Ferrari used bare metal exhausts which must have cost a notable amount of power.
Ferrari still has ten update 'tokens' left to use in 2015 and could use them to introduce an even more potent power unit around the time of the Italian Grand Prix. Alternatively, it could save them up right to the last minute and use them on its fourth and final power units in order to introduce a number of 2016 specification parts to get a jump on the new season.
Either way, it seems to me that there is still a lot more to come from the Ferrari 060/4 power unit and the fact it has caught the attention of Mercedes' top brass is probably the highest praise it can receive at this moment…
Max Yamabiko
http://www.crash.net/f1/feature/216761/1/max-yamabiko-decoding-ferraris-power-unit-shift.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss
Indeed, only Mercedes had the legs (albeit long ones) over the Ferrari in Melbourne, while Sauber – with all due respect – is unlikely to have made such a leap from no points in 2014 to a top five return with just chassis modifications alone.
Rival engineers admit that a quick check of the GPS data allied to pictures of the wing angles on the cars reveal that the Italians have a lot of power, but at a time when Christian Horner is calling for engine equalisation as Renault struggles to harness speed and reliability, how have Ferrari made such substantial gains over a relatively short winter period?
Between the three power units of Mercedes, Renault and Ferrari, it was clear that the latter was struggling under its own weight and not producing enough power. On top of that, the power delivery was not all that strong and the drivers were unhappy with its throttle response. Some of these issues were solved with software tweaks but overall the power unit's poor performance was arguably a result of its overall design concept.
Ferrari decided early on to compromise the outright performance of the V6 engine and the hybrid system mated to it, in order to make it as small as possible and help the aero guys get the most out of the bodywork. Consequently, however, this requires that both the engine department and the aerodynamic department work incredibly closely together on many interlinked areas of the car such as the cooling system, and overall shape of the car and it appears that Ferrari got this very wrong in late 2013.
It is easy to get wrong, the reason being that every change to the power unit installation will have a huge impact on the cars aerodynamics, while every change to the body work has an impact on the power unit. If a change to the bodywork means that the cars exhausts have to be a different shape costing power then it needs to be calculated which gives the faster lap time; the tighter body and the reduced power or the increased power and the bigger body?
It appears to me that in 2015 Ferrari has dropped this concept and let the power unit be the best it can be. Additionally some of the problems with the 2014 unit have been fixed. According to senior team members the MGU-H was not able to harvest as much energy as it should have done from the turbocharger, and that led to reduced power overall during races. On top of that the combustion chamber was not as good as it should have been and as a result that has been fully reworked.
Perhaps in an attempt to improve the performance of the turbo and MGU-H Ferrari has totally changed its exhaust concept. Though I am still to have a good look at it, I can see that the manifold is totally different and is positioned much lower in the car. It's easy to see this by comparing the Sauber or Ferrari, engine cover removed, with the Marussia MR03B in a similar state. The Marussia of course (run by the Manor team) uses the old 2014 V6 with the exhausts looping up over the engine. Notably the new exhausts feature heat shields and, for much of 2014, the Ferrari used bare metal exhausts which must have cost a notable amount of power.
Ferrari still has ten update 'tokens' left to use in 2015 and could use them to introduce an even more potent power unit around the time of the Italian Grand Prix. Alternatively, it could save them up right to the last minute and use them on its fourth and final power units in order to introduce a number of 2016 specification parts to get a jump on the new season.
Either way, it seems to me that there is still a lot more to come from the Ferrari 060/4 power unit and the fact it has caught the attention of Mercedes' top brass is probably the highest praise it can receive at this moment…
Max Yamabiko
http://www.crash.net/f1/feature/216761/1/max-yamabiko-decoding-ferraris-power-unit-shift.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss