The SF-25 captured everybody’s consideration on the night of February 18—regardless of the continued F1 75 Reside occasion at London’s O2 Area, 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.
In line with technical director Loic Serra, the brand new Ferrari is an evolution of the already strong 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 staff 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 not change any {hardware} or introduce new elements inside the energy unit,” Enrico Gualtieri informed in a current interview for the Italian web site Automoto. “That doesn’t imply we are able to’t optimize what we have already got. We’ve labored onerous and eventually managed to refine our methods to raised combine our PU into our operations, notably throughout all features 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. Now we have merely regained the efficiency potential we misplaced final yr, which can make the grid much more aggressive.”
“For the primary time, we didn’t have to depend on auxiliary elements however as an alternative centered on integrating the facility unit seamlessly with the brand new automobile. In actuality, we had already achieved a correct match by the top of 2022. Our design decisions had been primarily geared toward giving the aerodynamics staff full freedom by occupying as little house as attainable 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 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: creating the SF-25 with the hope of combating for the title till the ultimate race whereas additionally engaged on the 2026 automobile, which might be constructed beneath the brand new technical laws set to take impact on January 1 subsequent yr.
“We’re totally centered on launching the 2025 automobile and managing the whole season. That mentioned, 2026 is getting nearer, so this yr might be crucial and very 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 creating the facility 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 concerned about his general really feel for our engine fairly than making direct comparisons. However sure, his enter has been extremely priceless. Drivers are, in a manner, our most superior sensor within the automobile—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 helpful.”
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