Ferrari has “have the elements,” according to Sebastian Vettel, to finally break its streak without winning the F1 world championship in 2019.
Ferrari, according to Sebastian Vettel, “has the elements” to end its streak without winning the Formula 1 World Championship in 2019.
Although Ferrari had its best season since last year, it hasn’t won a world championship of any kind since 2008. A sequence of driver mistakes and operational blunders hastened Mercedes’ and Lewis Hamilton’s second consecutive victory.
Maurizio Arrivabene was replaced as team principal by former technical director Mattia Binotto over the winter, while Ferrari changed its driver lineup for the first time since 2015 by elevating Charles Leclerc alongside Vettel for the upcoming season.
In This Article...
Mercedes claims that its current Formula 1 engine reliability issues are a result of overextending itself to equal Ferrari’s power in 2018.
Since the summer break, grid penalties have plagued both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, raising continued concerns for the German manufacturer about the performance of their power unit.
For this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix, Hamilton, who is being investigated for a DRS violation in qualifying, has chosen a new internal combustion engine and will serve a five-place grid penalty on Sunday.
Given how little trouble it has had with reliability during the turbo hybrid era, the Mercedes position is surprising, and Honda’s F1 technical chief Toyoharu Tanabe said he “cannot believe” why its competitor has struggled so much.
Toto Wolff, team owner, believes that Mercedes overreached in chasing performance during the 2019 season—when Ferrari had a power advantage—and that this is what has led to the current troubles.
Ferrari’s power unit was the target of an FIA inquiry into possible behavior that evaded F1’s rigorous fuel flow regulations during that season, which generated controversy.
Ferrari’s performance was hindered by the subsequent addition of an additional fuel flow sensor, even though the FIA was unable to establish that the Italian team violated the rules.
Mercedes was furious at the moment because it believed that its employees had been stretched to the limit in order to match the Ferrari performance, which Mercedes believed was the result of the Italian team going above and beyond the set of regulations.
The actions it took then to catch up for 2020, according to Wolff, are now coming back to haunt it.
We were put under a lot of pressure in 2019 and came with a power unit that was right there, but perhaps it stretched us too thin, said Wolff.
“If you’re constantly chasing performance, reliability might sometimes get left behind. And I suppose that’s what transpired.
Mercedes has been far more aware of its reliability issues in recent weeks, but concerns over performance degradation led to the decision to switch Hamilton’s engine for Brazil.
Giving Hamilton a boost with a new power unit seemed to make the most sense given that the team needed to wind down power at the conclusion of each engine’s life.
“We are still not completely at ease from our side in terms of reliability and degradation,” continued Wolff. We are certain that the longer we run that, the less power we have.
If we’re still in the championship, we wouldn’t want to keep using this power unit and wind up in Saudi Arabia or Abu Dhabi with little remaining.
Although Mercedes’ engine dependability is not entirely under control at the moment, according to Wolff, it cannot back off from its performance drive in advance of a coming development freeze.
We are up against a very strong and dependable Honda engine, and these people have used every resource at their disposal in the previous season. All right.
And in some way that is frozen, that will continue to be the power unit over the next few years.
Therefore, all we need to do is ensure that the engine we start with the following year has performance comparable to ours right now while also being able to endure the entire season without suffering engine penalties.
Ferrari dominated Bahrain despite Mercedes’ superior performance in Melbourne. Who is the team to defeat in Formula One in 2019? Mark Hughes, a Sky F1 analyst, examines the times in more detail and anticipates the Chinese GP.
The patterns that will characterize the season are beginning to emerge after two races. One very intriguing question remains, though.
Without a doubt, the Ferrari performance in Bahrain was far more indicative than it was in Melbourne, where the SF90 was hampered by both cooling and aerodynamic problems.
The focus then shifts to Mercedes in Bahrain, raising the question: Was that performance comparable to that in Melbourne, except that it was pitted against an unrestricted Ferrari? Or did Mercedes perform poorly in Bahrain, preventing both vehicles from reaching their full potential at once?
We may remove Ferrari from the comparison and look at the performance of the Mercedes in relation to the rest of the field for some hints to help us answer that. Based on their qualifying results, here is how they varied at each track.
F1 versus Red Bull
Red Bull and Mercedes were the two primary rivals during the previous season, and while the latter team is still a strong contender, Ferrari has taken the position of the Silver Arrows. Furthermore, Ferrari had the advantage in qualifying and would have finished first and second, except for Max Verstappen’s final lap, which beat Carlos Sainz by 0.006 seconds.
A dramatic qualifying session saw only 0.129s separate the top three drivers, with Sergio Perez clinching his seat on the second row little under a tenth of a second behind his teammate. Both teams were pleased with the work they accomplished during preseason testing when it came to race simulations, and it is obvious that the two teams are tightly matched in qualifying trim at the Sakhir circuit.
Red Bull is particularly confident in their race pace, but Ferrari has the advantage in terms of starting position and also seems to have a powerful power unit that should help if they need to get defensive. This may be an epic duel both strategically and on the track because both teams will have vehicles at the front.
Mercedes attributes present issues to the Ferrari duel.
Toto Wolff, the team principal for Mercedes, has stated that the team’s issues with power unit reliability stem from their 2019 conflict with Ferrari.
At the start of 2019, the Scuderia seemed to be leading the pack in terms of power units, but controversy immediately grew around their engine, which Max Verstappen publicly said was “cheating” by Ferrari in order to gain an edge.
The FIA issued Technical Directives to prevent them from employing the same strategy again in 2020, even though the evidence was inconclusive as to whether or not they had actually broken the rules in 2019. This was allegedly accomplished by altering how the fuel flow and oil burning was done within the power unit.
But as a result of having to catch up to their competition throughout that year, Mercedes made as many advancements as they could within their powertrains section.
Even though they were finally able to get back on par with Ferrari as a result of this, Wolff claimed that it cost them the opportunity to design a power unit with complete reliability.
In order to give Hamilton more power for the rest of the season rather than due to reliability issues, Mercedes director of trackside engineering Andrew Shovlin said after the race. However, the team principal said they are still not “100% comfortable” with their engines in their current configuration.
“If you’re constantly chasing performance, reliability might sometimes get left behind. And I suppose that’s what took place.
“We are still not completely at ease from our side in terms of reliability and degradation. We can be certain that the longer we run that, the less power we have.
If we are still in the championship, we wouldn’t want to keep using this power unit and wind up in Saudi Arabia or Abu Dhabi with little remaining.
Looking ahead, there will be a freeze on engine development for the teams starting in 2022, with just a small number of changes permitted until the sport’s new engine formula is introduced in 2026.
The Mercedes team leader expects it will enable them to develop the greatest power unit starting next year and, more importantly, avoid the grid penalties they have been subjected to during the summer break.
You must exert a lot of effort, he urged. We are up against a very strong and dependable Honda engine, and these people have used every resource at their disposal throughout the past season. All right.
Therefore, all we need to do is ensure that the engine we start with the following year has performance comparable to ours right now while also being able to endure the entire season without suffering engine penalties.
Ferrari F1 2022: Is it faster than Mercedes?
Ferrari and Red Bull have “inherently faster cars” than Mercedes, according to George Russell. During Friday’s practice sessions for the 2022 Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, George Russell bemoans the performance of his vehicle, claiming that competitors Ferrari and Red Bull have a “inherently faster car” than Mercedes.
What action took Ferrari in 2019?
As part of their punishment for the 2019 “cheating” incident, Ferrari was ordered to “use less fuel,” according to F1 steward Mika Salo, who also informed fellow Finn Kristian Sohlberg.
In 2019, Ferrari courted controversy as opponents questioned the Scuderia’s significantly enhanced power unit.
The FIA began an inquiry after being blatantly accused of “cheating” by Max Verstappen of Red Bull, which resulted in the issuance of Technical Directives regulating fuel flow and oil burning.
The Scuderia and its customer teams struggled as a result of Ferrari’s engine losing power.
After what the FIA referred to as a “thorough technical study,” the organization that governs motorsports came to a covert deal with Ferrari months later, before of the start of the 2020 season.
As was to be expected, Ferrari’s competitors were not pleased and continue to call for the settlement’s specifics to be made public.
Former driver turned steward Salo may have just revealed a portion of that.
During a Twitch stream conversation with Finnish rally driver Sohlberg, the issue of what went wrong for Ferrari and its client teams was raised.
The three Ferrari-powered teams had a difficult time maintaining their 2019 pace in 2018, losing the most lap time of any team on the grid.
According to Salo, who is quoted by Soymotor, “They suffered from Ferrari’s cheat last year because they used Ferrari engines and were obliged to use less gasoline. Therefore, I think so Alfa Romeo may be in a fantastic position if they can perform at their best in the race this season.”
They are permitted to utilize the engine’s full potential, Salo said. I’m not sure if it’s a new engine. Due to Ferrari, they were not permitted the previous year.
The Scuderia finished sixth in the Constructors’ Championship last year after failing to win any races. Alfa Romeo was eighth and Haas was ninth.
At the C41’s debut, he commented, “I think the relationship with Ferrari is going extremely well.”
“We held a lengthy meeting over the winter to discuss the areas of last year where we may not have performed perfectly.
“Our direction is good. The problem we had last year will probably be recovered in great part on their side, and the level of cooperation is improving.