Question regarding Ferrari's F1 engine and its competitiveness in 2010 | FerrariChat

Question regarding Ferrari's F1 engine and its competitiveness in 2010

Discussion in 'F1' started by Edwinproxp, Nov 26, 2009.

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

  1. Edwinproxp

    Edwinproxp Karting

    Sep 15, 2008
    73
    Hong Kong
    I just read the following quote

    "Lewis Hamilton has told Germany's Sport Bild he is not worried that McLaren's long works relationship with Mercedes is at an end following its decision to take over the Brawn team because McLaren will still be using a Mercedes engine, which is "definitely" the best in F1."

    I am relatively new to the sport of Formula 1. So please excuse me if my questions seem a little naive.

    Hamilton says Mercedes engine is "definately" the best engine on the field. How does he know? It's not that he drove other team's car as well. So how can he be so sure?

    1) In your opinion, how big of a difference in terms of efficiency and power between the Mercedes and Ferrari engine?

    2) Is it true that Ferrari cannot work to improve the engine for next season?

    3) if engine improvement is not possible and with new rules of no refueling. Racing with an engine that is not as efficient as Mercedes, would greatly affect Ferrari's performance next year!

    4) Is there a reason why only Toro Roso uses Ferrari engine? Are they expensive or just simply they are not that great of an engine?

    Many Thanks! God bless Ferrari in next season!
     
  2. Far Out

    Far Out F1 Veteran

    Feb 18, 2007
    9,768
    Stuttgart, Germany
    Full Name:
    Florian
    Rather noticeable.

    Yes.

    Yes.
     
  3. william

    william Two Time F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Jun 3, 2006
    25,447


    Yours is an interesting posts.

    Ferrari engines used to be on Force India (previously Spyker) and Red Bull.

    Force India changed to get Mercedes engines in 2009.

    Red Bull switched from Ferrari engines to Renault. To respect their contract, the engines were transfered to Toro Roso - same team owner.

    I don't think Ferrari engine are well tought off in F1 at the moment and have suffered some monumental failures. The present regulations forbid them to be re-developed.
     
  4. Duck_Hollywood

    Duck_Hollywood Formula Junior

    May 21, 2006
    326
    Dallas, Tx
    the engine is only one of thousands of factors that contribute to a cars performance, just because mercedes makes a more powerful engine does not mean Ferrari will struggle in 2010.

    the cosworth engine may turn some heads as well.
     
  5. Alex1015

    Alex1015 Formula Junior

    Sep 1, 2005
    949
    USA
    In terms of power, the engines on the grid are all very close. The importance of fuel economy cannot be understated though.
     
  6. classic308

    classic308 F1 Veteran

    Jan 9, 2004
    6,793
    Westchester, NY
    Full Name:
    Paul
    With rev limitations the difference in engines/power are minimal; chassis performance on full tanks will be crucial next year....
     
  7. Far Out

    Far Out F1 Veteran

    Feb 18, 2007
    9,768
    Stuttgart, Germany
    Full Name:
    Florian
    It's more about fuel economy than power, now that there's no more refuelling.
     
  8. Bas

    Bas Four Time F1 World Champ

    Mar 24, 2008
    41,300
    ESP
    Full Name:
    Bas
    Combination of both. The current Ferrari engine is fairly thirsty compared to the mercedes unit. It also isn't as reliable as the mercedes one. One of the best things with the mercedes engine is that when its on idle, in uses only 4 cylinders instead of 8, which means the cars can be idle for much, much longer without over heating (and of course, sparing precious fuel!). IIRC a Ferrari V8 can idle for about 45 seconds before it is recommended to be shut down. The mercedes engine of hamilton was idle for over 1m 30s back in 2008 when he span at the nurburgring, and no signs of overheating happened.

    The Ferrari engine is 2nd best on the grid right now. It's power is quite good at some tracks (although the Mercedes engine is better at pretty much all tracks!) and its significantly better than the renault and toyota units.

    The mercedes engine only had 1 failure this season IIRC...that was with Barrichello after he overtorqued the engine at the start of the race. It started to lose oil with a few laps remaining and set itself on fire moments after he finished and he drove back into the pits. Ferrari haven't had many engine failures either but compare it to renaults 11 (IIRC)....pretty good record imo.
     
  9. tifosi12

    tifosi12 Four Time F1 World Champ
    Lifetime Rossa Owner

    Oct 3, 2002
    48,581
    @ the wheel
    Full Name:
    Andreas
    Lets not forget:

    Sauber will be using Ferrari engines next year. Along with ToroRosso.

    That'll make 6 Ferraris on the grid!
     
  10. kraftwerk

    kraftwerk Two Time F1 World Champ

    May 12, 2007
    26,826
    England North West
    Full Name:
    Steve
    Interesting Bas I didn't know that.
     
  11. Bas

    Bas Four Time F1 World Champ

    Mar 24, 2008
    41,300
    ESP
    Full Name:
    Bas
    Really happy Sauber is back on board again, with a Ferrari engine, as it should be!
    The mercedes engine is a superb bit of engineering. I'm quite amazed that their engine is in pretty much every way the best. I can't see any flaws in it (...actually...A ferrari badge on it would have been nice:D).
     

Share This Page