Ferrari discovered in 2020 that they were outclassed in terms of engine power and aerodynamics. From a ding-dong fight to a walkover, they had transitioned. At the US Grand Prix last year, the crucial time had occurred. The FIA published a technical directive banning specific fuel flow levels, which are rigorously regulated.
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Ferrari will be pleased to return to Monza with empty grandstands so that no one can see their disgrace, according to F1 Today.
Lewis Hamilton, the upcoming Ferrari driver, could finish first before the race is over (Photo: Getty).
Although Mercedes recorded improvements in other areas like aerodynamics and was able to lengthen the duration of the constructors’ contests, their engine domination persisted in 2019. Ferrari discovered in 2020 that they had been outperformed in terms of engine performance and aerodynamics. From a ding-dong fight to a walkover, they had transitioned.
The turning point occurred at the US Grand Prix the previous year. The FIA has published a technical regulation that strictly regulates and forbids specific fuel flow settings. Rivals of Ferrari asserted that the team created a method to store the fuel in the vehicle in a different way, causing the sensor to read the numbers correctly.
Ferrari, though, continued to “experiment” with the setup throughout the season, confirming our suspicions. At some point, the FIA was forced to acknowledge that it had finished an engine analysis and “reached an agreement” with Ferrari. Surprisingly, they pledged to keep the findings confidential and issued a general statement stating that Ferrari is “agreeing to a set of technical requirements that will strengthen the monitoring of all Formula 1 engines.” Essentially a charitable penalty
The fact that Ferrari may have broken the rules and then blatantly covered them up infuriated the teams. The team continues to oppose the publication of information due to concerns over intellectual property, and the paddock continues to support transparency for the sake of maintaining the integrity of sports even now.
Ferrari cannot deny that they are excruciatingly sluggish in 2020, even if they are blameless and the smoke and mirrors surrounding this mystery settlement conceal nothing as nefarious as a rule infringement. They are headed for the Constructors’ Championship’s worst finish since 1981.
The circumstances were ideal for Ferrari. In Formula 1, speed is rarely constrained to one factor, and a car’s aerodynamic design is always determined, among other things, on how quickly it travels, in part due to the engine. Ferrari built a car that could turn swiftly because they thought the engine would force them off the straightaways. They currently have a high drag vehicle with a GP2 engine, to use Fernando Alonso’s term.
On Thursday, Leclerc and his engineers drove a circuit. He may have had his best lap of the weekend during that one.
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Ferrari’s 2020 campaign was their poorest in forty years and was without a victory. They have meekly admitted that it was a failure by their extremely high standards. But despite a terrible year, the Scuderia started taking action to remedy the wrongs, and the Prancing Horse is prepared to battle back with a new driver lineup, an entirely new engine, and a revamped aero package.
After surgery and an ICU stay, Albon plans to go back to Singapore.
Ferrari, according to team manager Mattia Binotto, lost three tenths in the bends but a significant seven tenths on the straights.
Does aerodynamics alone account for this low performance on straightaways? Observing the performance of its engine clients Haas and Alfa Romeo throughout the weekend, it seemed to show that the issue is not just one of aerodynamic resistance but also the Power Unit, which appears to have lost its potential from last year when it was frequently the best in the field.
There are a few possible explanations for this. The Ferrari engine’s lack of competitiveness is probably caused by the new restrictions on Power Units for this year, which restrict the use of additional oils and include a second fuel-flow sensor to verify that the 100 kg/h flow rate is being adhered to.
Last year, there was a lot of debate around Ferrari’s PU, which Red Bull claimed managed to get around the fuel-flow sensor by temporarily raising fuel flow to increase power. The FIA required a second sensor to put an end to this behavior.
Additionally, Red Bull claimed that the lubricant supplied by Ferrari partner Shell did not adhere to the rules since it increased the calorific value of gasoline in the combustion chamber.
The SF1000’s telemetry data indicates an increase in traction, enabling its drivers to open the throttle a little early. The torque does, however, gradually lag, particularly when the turbo and the hybrid engage.
Ferrari qualified over a second slower than the previous season, with a top speed loss of roughly 15 km/h, based on statistics from 2019 and 2020. The similar pattern was evident during the tests in Barcelona, indicating that this is not just a one-off, circuit-specific problem.
Alfa Romeo stands out because, while being towards the top of the speed trap list, they had the slowest laptime overall during qualifying. This is indicative of weak aerodynamics, which produce little downforce and partially offset the lack of engine power.
Ferrari has openly acknowledged that its engine and aerodynamics have problems. It is hoped that a significant upgrade package for round three in Hungary will begin to turn things around. However, the double Grand Prix in Austria does not necessarily help Ferrari; on the contrary, it may actually aid its engineers in better analyzing the data, which will be double that of usual, and determining where everything has gone wrong.
Only time will tell if the SF1000’s core faults will be fixed by the change in development strategy. Ferrari enthusiasts, Hungary is just around the corner.
Ferrari has explained why its Formula 1 pitstops are so slow during the 2020 season, admitting that its times are “a long way from the best.”
This year, Ferrari has experienced several problems with pit stops, most recently in the Sakhir Grand Prix where Sebastian Vettel lost time due to delayed stops.
After the race in Bahrain, Vettel claimed that the pit equipment “certainly needs an upgrade” because the stops took 4.5 and 6.5 seconds to complete.
Over 20% of the team’s pitstops this year have taken longer than 3.5 seconds, the team disclosed ahead of this weekend’s season finale in Abu Dhabi.
Red Bull, in contrast, has consistently topped the pitstop times this season, completing a stop in less than two seconds at four of the last seven races.
Ferrari recognized that its average pitstop time “is a long way off the best” and that faster services “could have meant a few more points on the scoreboard” prior to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The root cause of the slow pit stops has now been revealed to be a wheel nut issue, and plans are in place to fix the issue for next year.
It’s true that the amount of stops taking longer than 3.5 seconds is excessive by Scuderia standards, but Diego Ioverno, Ferrari’s vehicle operating engineer, said that the vast majority of times a less-than-ideal stop occurred, it was because of a unique issue related to the wheel nut.
The nut has stripped multiple times because the thread is insufficiently robust. We are putting a lot of effort into fixing the reliability issue for the following year.
“The whole procedure suffers when the guys feel, even unconsciously, that they are employing a component that is more dangerous and has a lot lower margin of error for engaging the wheel-gun.
That can be shown by the fact that for us, a good pit stop takes an average of 2.73 seconds, indicating that there is space for growth there as well.
Ioverno added that the Ferrari pit crew is “quite new” due to the current reorganization and rebuilding at Ferrari and that it would take some time for them to get along.
It is evident, he continued, that it takes some time for everyone involved in the pitstop to click.
“No other sport necessitates the exact synchronization of more than twenty individuals. The best teams are those who have relied on the same crew for a number of years because of this.
Therefore, in addition to reliability, we also need to focus on this area. This will be a priority during the winter in order to get ready for 2021, and it will involve both focused training sessions and psychological and physical training.
The performance of the team’s car thus far this season, according to Ferrari Formula 1 head Mattia Binotto, is “a relief,” showing that its development work is progressing as planned.
In 2020, Ferrari had its worst F1 season in 40 years, finishing sixth in the constructors’ standings with just three podium finishes.
The team struggled with a slow car design and a lack of straight-line speed, which it attempted to address with the revised SF21 car for this season.
Charles Leclerc qualified for the first two races in fourth place, which has been a success so far. At Imola two weeks ago, Leclerc came in fourth, ahead of home teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. in fifth.
It has put Ferrari in the lead of the battle for the midfield, fighting head-to-head with McLaren, and demonstrated that the team is improving again following last year’s setbacks.
The team’s development effort was correlated between the factory and the track, which helped the team’s performance move in the right direction, as team principal Binotto noted.
The relief, according to Binotto, lies in realizing that we are moving in the right directions.
“It is crucial to note that simulations and wind tunnel work now correlate at the track more accurately than they did in the past.
“This inspires faith in the tools and our ability to design for the future. That, in my opinion, was the most crucial item, so it is certainly a relief in that regard.
“It’s crucial that the car is performing better so that we can finish the racing weekend with a better result.
“We frequently stated that our performance from the previous year was unacceptable for a Ferrari brand, so we were aware that these areas were crucial to us, demonstrating advancements in each one.
In the teams’ standings, McLaren presently leads Ferrari by seven points as a result of Lando Norris’s podium finish at Imola, which he achieved after overtaking Leclerc on the restart following the red light.