The SF-25 captured everybody’s consideration on the night of February 18—regardless of the continued F1 75 Dwell occasion at London’s O2 Area, the place all of the groups unveiled their 2025 liveries—and once more yesterday when it hit the monitor for the primary time, with Charles Leclerc taking the wheel earlier than Lewis Hamilton had his flip at Fiorano.
In accordance with technical director Loic Serra, the brand new Ferrari is an evolution of the already stable SF-24. Nevertheless, as we all know, engine improvement has been frozen since 2022.
Enrico Gualtieri, head of Ferrari’s energy unit division, defined how his workforce has labored to make small but significant enhancements in efficiency and reliability whereas additionally helping the aerodynamics division in enhancing effectivity.
“Engine improvement has been frozen since 2022, that means we can’t change any {hardware} or introduce new parts inside the energy unit,” Enrico Gualtieri informed in a latest interview for the Italian web site Automoto. “That doesn’t imply we will’t optimize what we have already got. We’ve labored exhausting and eventually managed to refine our methods to raised combine our PU into our operations, significantly throughout all elements of a race weekend, to maximise each efficiency benefit. In fact, nothing groundbreaking—particularly in comparison with what we may obtain when improvement time was limitless. We’ve merely regained the efficiency potential we misplaced final 12 months, which is able to make the grid much more aggressive.”
“For the primary time, we didn’t must depend on auxiliary parts however as a substitute targeted on integrating the ability unit seamlessly with the brand new automobile. In actuality, we had already achieved a correct match by the top of 2022. Our design selections had been primarily aimed toward giving the aerodynamics workforce full freedom by occupying as little house as doable inside the automobile’s structure. We’ve been working with this energy unit for ten years now—an extremely lengthy journey. It started in 2014, although issues didn’t go as we had hoped. Nonetheless, it was a useful studying expertise that supplied new alternatives. An important factor is that we’ve gained expertise, and in the long run, we made important progress.”
This 12 months, Ferrari faces a twin problem: growing the SF-25 with the hope of preventing for the title till the ultimate race whereas additionally engaged on the 2026 automobile, which will probably be constructed below the brand new technical laws set to take impact on January 1 subsequent 12 months.
“We’re absolutely targeted on launching the 2025 automobile and managing the complete season. That mentioned, 2026 is getting nearer, so this 12 months will probably be essential and intensely demanding in that regard. One of the best ways to be ready is to work on it whereas preserving our present season’s targets in sight. Within the coming weeks, we are going to dive deeper into growing the ability unit for the subsequent regulatory cycle.”
Naturally, Enrico Gualtieri additionally addressed the arrival of Lewis Hamilton and his preliminary impressions of the Ferrari engine. Whereas he didn’t disclose any particular particulars, he confirmed that Ferrari sought suggestions from the seven-time world champion, evaluating his expertise with the Ferrari V6 to the Mercedes energy models he used for years.
“We had discussions with him, after all. We’re extra serious about his general really feel for our engine moderately than making direct comparisons. However sure, his enter has been extremely invaluable. Drivers are, in a method, our most superior sensor within the automobile—typically much more exact than bodily sensors. His suggestions has been fascinating and intensely useful in understanding how he perceives our engine. He has been very engaged within the discussions, and his involvement in adapting to the Ferrari energy unit has been enormously useful.”
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