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 Enviornment, the place all of the groups unveiled their 2025 liveries—and once more yesterday when it hit the observe for the primary time, with Charles Leclerc taking the wheel earlier than Lewis Hamilton had his flip at Fiorano.
Based on technical director Loic Serra, the brand new Ferrari is an evolution of the already stable SF-24. Nevertheless, as we all know, engine growth 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 growth has been frozen since 2022, which means we can not change any {hardware} or introduce new elements inside the energy unit,” Enrico Gualtieri advised in a current interview for the Italian web site Automoto. “That doesn’t imply we will’t optimize what we have already got. We’ve labored onerous and at last managed to refine our methods to raised combine our PU into our operations, significantly throughout all features of a race weekend, to maximise each efficiency benefit. After all, nothing groundbreaking—particularly in comparison with what we might obtain when growth time was limitless. We now have merely regained the efficiency potential we misplaced final yr, which is able to make the grid much more aggressive.”
“For the primary time, we didn’t must depend on auxiliary elements however as a substitute centered on integrating the ability unit seamlessly with the brand new automotive. In actuality, we had already achieved a correct match by the top of 2022. Our design decisions have been primarily aimed toward giving the aerodynamics workforce full freedom by occupying as little house as potential inside the automotive’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 offered new alternatives. A very powerful factor is that we’ve gained expertise, and ultimately, we made important progress.”
This yr, 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 automotive, which will likely be constructed below the brand new technical rules set to take impact on January 1 subsequent yr.
“We’re totally centered on launching the 2025 automotive and managing your entire season. That mentioned, 2026 is getting nearer, so this yr will likely be vital and very demanding in that regard. The easiest way to be ready is to work on it whereas conserving our present season’s aims in sight. Within the coming weeks, we’ll dive deeper into growing the ability unit for the following 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 items he used for years.
“We had discussions with him, after all. We’re extra eager about his general really feel for our engine fairly than making direct comparisons. However sure, his enter has been extremely worthwhile. Drivers are, in a approach, our most superior sensor within the automotive—typically much more exact than bodily sensors. His suggestions has been fascinating and very 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 vastly useful.”
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