Ferrari will introduce a new, more powerful, specification of power unit sometime in the second half of the 2021 Formula 1 season, something that it hopes will narrow that gap to the front in the remainder of the year.
Scuderia boss Mattia Binotto explained that the current specification engine – two each of which have been used so far by Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz – still has homologated key components to last year’s specification.
These will be upgraded to a new specification, which will be seen with the final engines of the three permitted per driver for the season.
Binotto assessed that Ferrari’s 0.7s deficit to pole (half of last year’s) in the first half of this season has been “60% power unit, 40% chassis”, and as such is hopeful that this deficit can be further closed in the remainder of the season.
“In the ’21 regulations say you may have a brand new PU in ’21,” he explained, “so it means you may bring an update in all the components – ICE, turbo, batteries, MGU-H, MGU-K, electronics – but with what we made at the start of the season we didn’t complete the full development.
“There are still parts on it from last year.
“We will bring an evolution to those which will be a significant step for the end of the season and gaining experience for ‘22.”
Although Ferrari still lags behind Mercedes and Honda in the power stakes, that gap is believed to be significantly reduced from last year when GPS analysis suggested it trailed Mercedes by as much as 65bhp.
So far this year, that deficit has been more like 25bhp and quite closely matched with the Renault unit in the Alpine.
This in combination with excellent slow corner performance has been enough to secure Ferrari two pole positions and for it to score more than double the points achieved at the same stage of last season.
Binotto also pointed out the considerable gains made in other aspects of performance.
“Our objective was to improve in all the areas in 2021,” he said.
“As an example, the pitstops. I always consider a good pitstop below 3s.
“That may sound a high number but in strategy it’s more important to be consistent, not only fast. Because what is destroying a race is sometimes a problem and you are stopped for 4.5s or 5s or 6s.
“84% of our stops this year have been below 3s. Last year 48%. Pit crew, mechanics – we’ve certainly improved there.
“Last year we were eighth in the pit stops by this measure. Today we are P2, with only one team [Red Bull] doing better than us.
“As a team and a car there are improvements and the direction is encouraging. There are still gaps to the best but that 0.7s deficit is not from any single area but is a sum – of aerodynamics, power unit, overall systems.
“I don’t think we are lacking only in one area – which is good because that would mean you need to recover a lot in that single area. Which can be more difficult.”
The team’s form in the second half of this year, with its upgraded power unit and lessons learned on the chassis side since the investigation into its tyre woes in France, will only increase the anticipation of whether it will return to championship contention in 2022.
