What will begin shortly will be an intense Formula 1 season not only for the drivers, but also for the technical departments of the various teams. The regulatory revolution intended to improve the show on the track has forced the engineers of all the teams to start from a blank sheet to design the new ground-effect cars.
The Ferrari F1-75 showed itself today and, in addition to the vintage coloring, it was the shapes of the car body that were totally different from the lines of the other single-seaters – Haas, Aston Martin, McLaren and Williams – seen so far.
On the sidelines of the presentation of the car that will be driven again this season by Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz jr. Enrico Cardile intervened and explained the challenges faced by the technical department of Maranello.
“The F1-75 marks the return to three-dimensional backgrounds, a technical content that has been missing in Formula 1 since 1982. It is an innovative car, far from the showcar presented by F1 despite extremely restrictive regulations. It is a car that to be fast will have to run low and stiff ”.
“We worked in an extremely complex context. On the one hand there has been a very radical change in technical regulations as has not been seen for 40 years, on the other hand there have been changes in the sporting regulations with the introduction of the budget cap. This forced us to define many objectives, sometimes in contrast with each other. To come up with it, we had to prioritize all of these goals: some we achieved, some not. We have already entered the development phase of the car during the season with the target of exceeding these objectives ”.
Ferrari F1-75 details
Photo by: Ferrari
The head of the chassis area then explained what the fundamental point was in creating the latest addition to Maranello.
“Aerodynamics was definitely our number one priority. We faced it with an open mind, taking the opportunity of such different regulations to browse in many directions, even far from the trends of recent years “.
“There is a lot of innovation on this machine. We approached the development with curiosity and a great desire to explore different directions. The car body is very far from the trends of recent years. This approach has also accompanied us in the development of the suspension: the new regulations have imposed a general rethinking of the sector, to ensure that we have the flexibility to manage such a new car and tires with different characteristics. There are also many invisible innovations, but no less important ”.
Ferrari F1-75 details
Photo by: Ferrari
Cardile then explained the difficulties that each development team will have to face this year, having to collide with compliance with the maximum spending ceiling allowed.
“The budget cap has reduced the resources available. The choice to contain the developments on the SF21 helped us a lot to mitigate the effects in the development of the F1-75. From a technical point of view, we were able to develop and bring everything we had in mind to the car ”.
“We have already defined a plan of both mechanical and aerodynamic developments. Obviously the budget cap imposes a pragmatism in the development and therefore I expect that the frequency of updates will not be as constant as in the past “.
“This generation of cars will be heavier, it will have to adopt very rigid set-ups and the aerodynamics have evolved a lot from the model presented by F1. All these aspects do not go in the direction of facilitating duels on the track. Then other parameters must be taken into consideration: how quickly the restrictive regulation will generate convergence of performance which will be slowed down by the spending capacity due to the budget cap ”.
Enrico Racca, Enrico Gualtieri, Laurent Mekies, Carlos Sainz Jr., Piero Ferrari, John Elkann, Benedetto Vigna, Charles Leclerc, Mattia Binotto, Team Principal, Ferrari
Photo by: Ferrari
Great attention was paid by Cardile in adopting the new simulator. This novelty will allow pilots to have more realistic feedback and will allow the entire research and development department to adopt targeted updates.
“The new simulator represents the main element of a path to improve our test instruments. Not being able to test the cars on the track it is intuitive to understand how important it is to be able to simulate as accurately as possible. Even more important is to enable our riders to drive something that is realistic to ensure that their feedback is reliable for development. “
“Our drivers were immediately involved in the development of the car and were able to appreciate its evolution. At first, as well as the engineers, they had to familiarize themselves with different features from the previous generation. I am satisfied with how we worked as a team, the track will tell us if we are satisfied as a result ”.
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