The pinnacle of cutting-edge technology and research is found in Formula 1 engines. All Formula One cars must have 1.6-liter V6 turbocharged and hybrid electric engines. Check out the F1 engine’s workings as well.
The F1 engines are the pinnacle of modern technology and science and are the most important component of an F1 race car. In Formula One, constructors must design and build their own chassis, but other manufacturers may supply the engines. There are ten constructors at the moment. Ferrari, Honda, Mercedes, and Renault are the four engine producers that supply their products. Only Honda does not also participate in the constructor competition.
Since 2014, 1.6-liter V6 engines with turbocharging and hybrid electric technology have been required for all F1 engines. They have fuel flow limits and numerous energy recovery mechanisms. There is a lot of room for design experimentation despite the numerous restrictions limiting specifications, and the four engines each offer a different combination of performance, modes, and drivability.
Mercedes: The German team likely has the greatest product on the field and produces its own engines.
Ferrari: The company builds its own engines, just as Mercedes, a competitor.
Red Bull: Since 2019, Honda has been providing the Austrian team’s powerplant. Prior to a stretch of poor results, the Japanese manufacturer Renault supplied Red Bull with the engine and was crucial to their 4 consecutive championship victories.
McLaren: The seasoned Formula 1 team now has an engine agreement with Renault, but it will end after the 2019 season, and the British team will switch to Mercedes.
Renault: Another team on the grid that makes its own engines is the French team.
Racing Point: Racing Point has been a long-time user of Mercedes engines and intends to keep working with them in the years to come.
Alfa Romeo: The Swiss squad, which has a long-standing partnership with the F1 heavyweights, runs on a Ferrari engine.
Alpha Tauri: Another Red Bull squad, Alpha Tauri unofficially serves as a feeder team for the Austrian team and, like its bigger siblings, runs on Honda engines.
Haas: Since their 2016 Formula 1 debut, the lone American team on the grid has been a repeat customer of Ferrari.
In This Article...
What engine does Ferrari employ in Formula One?
The ability of teams that have dominated the sport for years to unexpectedly lose their position is one of Formula 1’s enduring characteristics. Nothing better exemplifies this than Red Bull and Mercedes, who both had protracted reigns at the top; yet, in the year 2022, it appears that Ferrari will prevail.
The Alfa Romeo and Haas F1 teams utilised Ferrari’s own engine, which is also used by other manufacturers. While numerous things, including as the chassis and aerodynamics, may have contributed to the huge improvement in all three entities’ performance, the Ferrari engine is the single aspect that unites the teams.
Ferrari has started the 2022 season strong, but it’s not only Ferrari; customer teams (Alfa Romeo and Haas), who finished last in the standings, have performed considerably better than expected and have put the teams around them on notice.
Check out the great products from the official F1 store here if you’re looking for some F1 memorabilia.
Which F1 Teams Utilize Ferrari Engines?
There are numerous teams who compete in the world of F1 racing. Additionally, Scuderia Ferrari has the wealthiest history in Formula One history among all other teams.
Since the dawn of time, the Italian giants have left an indelible mark on Formula 1. It debuted in 1950, the same year F1 did, making it the oldest team in the sport. Hi-definition technology are used in F1 cockpits, though, for the engine system. The manufacturers need a good number of sponsorship agreements in order to build the cockpit’s engine and chassis. Furthermore, a crucial prerequisite for the construction of the engine system is strong financial stability.
The teams in Formula One can purchase the engines and cockpits from the manufacturers, despite the fact that the constructors in the sport create their own chassis. There are four manufacturers in the F1 world: Ferrari, Mercedes, Honda, and Renault. However, Honda will retire from motorsports after the 2021 season.
The F1 engine is a technological and architectural behemoth. equipped with a variety of energy recovery systems and limits on the fuel flow. The ideal taste of power is provided by a V6, 1.6-liter engine with turbocharging and hybrid-electric technologies.
The FIA has established regulations and restrictions that control the engine’s production of power. Regulations that are strictly enforced don’t allow for much creativity. Engineers can, however, investigate a wide range of topics, such as design, usability, and overall engine performance.
the interior of the plant where new Ferraris are produced.
The Ferrari manufacturing combines human and mechanical labor. The expertise of humans and the accuracy of automation are combined to build the iconic automobiles.
Ferraris are created in this plant. The 165,000 square meter facility, located in Maranello, Italy, was originally chosen by business founder Enzo Ferrari in 1947. It manufactures 8,400 cars annually and employs 1,300 people. Ferrari wouldn’t have it any other way, thus every vehicle that has ever carried the fabled Prancing Horse was painstakingly put together here.
It takes three months to create each Ferrari. The engine is cast in the plant’s internal foundry, which is the first and most crucial step. The assembled parts are then brought to the line, where 147 engines are manually constructed each day.
Two robots are used to attach the Ferraris’ valve mechanics once the engine is finished; this is the only step that does not include manual labor. According to Vincenzo Regazzoni, the company’s chief manufacturing officer, “the robots work so closely together that we call them Romeo and Juliet.”
Ferrari allowed WIRED inside to observe the critical phases of the manufacturing process from beginning to end to commemorate its 70th anniversary.
Before installing wheels, bumpers, and windscreens, technicians on the 21,000m2 Maranello line affix mechanical components to the interior of each Ferrari, like this 488 GTB. The interiors are installed and the engine is tested after the car reaches the end of the line.
32 stations make up the V8 assembly line, and each station has a worker focused on a different stage of production. Ferrari’s V8 engines are built separately from its V12 engines because the latter are more complicated and need more manual labor.
This V8 engine is intended for the four-seat Ferrari GTC4Lusso T, which features rear-wheel drive as opposed to all-wheel drive. The engine has been designed to provide a comparable enticing sound, but not being as loud as the larger V12 because it is intended for urban drivers.
Each mechanical lift is created up of steel hooks and holds a certain automobile frame (in this case, a 488 Spider). These are used to transport the vehicle from one station to the next while rotating the chassis and automatically altering its height.
All Ferraris have aluminum doors, which are produced at the Scaglietti plant in neighboring Modena, 22 kilometers from Ferrari’s main location, using pressing and cutting equipment. Only when a car body has reached the end of the production line are the doors affixed to it.
The underbodies of the cars are where the engine, transmission, and suspension systems are placed. The automatic guided vehicle (AGV) that had been moving the engine along the assembly line is dismantled, and the engine is then fastened to the automobile body.
Romeo and Juliet, two robots, perform a task that would be too complex for humans: they fuse the valve seats that will go into the engines. Romeo heats up the cylinder heads with compressed air while Juliet submerses the aluminum rings in liquid nitrogen. The components are then put together.
Here are some reasons why Maserati used Ferrari engines and what lies ahead.
But why did Maserati even start with Ferrari engines? Why did Ferrari decide to end the customary agreement at this time?
Maserati, one of the most sought-after vintage Italian automobiles, has been employing Ferrari engines since 2001. Both of them have previously shared a variety of engines, including a 4.7-liter normally aspirated V8 engine, a 3.8-liter twin-turbo V8, and a 3-liter twin-turbo V6 engine. Sincerely, one of the most persuasive arguments in favor of purchasing a Maserati has been the Ferrari engines. This began in the 1990s when Fiat sold control of the upscale brand. Even after Maserati returned to the FCA, Ferrari continued to provide engines for them. However, things are set to change suddenly, reportedly as a result of the Mas models’ persistently poor sales volume. Ferrari recently disclosed that their engines will only belong to Ferrari and that they will eventually stop providing engines during their first quarter earnings call.
The business declared that it would stop producing engines for Maserati in November 2019. Mas’s refusal to extend their contract once the present one expires has been verified by Ferrari CEO Louis Camilleri, according to a phone transcript of the company’s quarterly analysis that the Motley Fool posted online. If you believe the hushed rumors going about, everything makes sense. According to our sources, Maserati had announced an intention to produce their own engines a few days before to the announcement. However, they have not yet released an official statement or a detailed plan.
But why did Maserati even start with Ferrari engines? Why did Ferrari decide to end the customary agreement at this time? For all the juicy details of this intriguing story, read through to the end.
Who builds the Ferrari engine?
The F136, also referred to as the Ferrari-Maserati engine, is a family of 90-degree V8 gasoline engines designed by Ferrari and Maserati jointly and manufactured by Ferrari. These engines have displacements ranging from 4.2 L to 4.7 L and have outputs ranging from 390 PS (287 kW; 385 hp) to 605 PS. All engines have four valves per cylinder, twin overhead camshafts, variable valve timing, and are naturally aspirated.
For the Alfa Romeo 8C as well as cars made by Ferrari and Maserati, the architecture was developed in a variety of variations. In 2001, production commenced. Ferrari has indicated they would not extend the deal to supply engines to Maserati by 2022 after being separated off from their shared parent company in January 2016.
Does Ferrari utilize a Fiat motor?
Less than three years before Fiat’s inevitable acquisition of Ferrari in 1969, the massive Turin automaker—at the time Europe’s largest—released the first of two wonderful Dino vehicles with the Fiat badge: the Bertone-designed Coupe and the more uncommon Pininfarina-bodied Spider.
These two Fiat Dinos, along with Ferrari’s then-new mid-engined Dino 206 GT two-seaters, were equipped with Ferrari’s new V6 engines, which were produced by Fiat and installed in these models in order to reach the production levels required by Ferrari in order to homologate the new V6 motor for Formula 2 competition use.
For the 1967 racing season, Formula 2 engines had to have no more than six cylinders, be derived from a road vehicle production motor, homologated in the GT class, and produced in at least 500 units over the course of a year.
Due to the fact that a small manufacturer like Ferrari lacked the production capacity to meet such quotas, a deal was made with Fiat to create the 500 V6 engines needed for a GT car.
Alfredo Ferrari, known as “Dino,” was Enzo Ferrari’s son who died in 1956 and is credited with coming up with the idea for Ferrari’s Formula 2 V6 racing engine’s odd 65-degree angle between the cylinder banks. Dino had been the name of Ferrari’s sports prototype racing vehicles with V6 engines since the late 1950s, in Alfredo’s memory.
Fiat built the original 2.0-liter and early 2.4-liter Dino models starting in 1966, but starting in December 1969, the Fiat Dino was built in Maranello alongside the 246 GT on Ferrari’s assembly line. 3,670 2.0-liter Fiat Dino Coupes and 1,163 2.0-liter Spiders were produced between 1966 and 1969. Only 420 of the later Fiat Dino Spider 2400 were produced, making it the most coveted and expensive Fiat Dino in existence today. Only 26% of the 7,803 Fiat Dinos manufactured were the fashionable Pininfarina Spider, while 74% were the Bertone Coupe.