‘Significant innovations’ for Ferrari’s 2022 F1 car and engine concepts

After beating McLaren to clinch third place in the constructors’ championship last year, the Italian outfit is aiming to capitalise on F1’s major regulation overhaul for the upcoming season as part of its bid to move closer to the front of the grid. 

Much of its recent performance deficit to Mercedes and Red Bull has related to its power unit, but the introduction of an upgraded hybrid system during 2021 brought successful gains. 

Ferrari hopes to further reduce the gap to its main rivals with its 2022 car, which is set to be launched in mid-February ahead of the first pre-season test in Barcelona at the end of next month. 

“If I look at the 2022 car, and the 2022 power unit, believe me there is a lot of innovation in it,” Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said. 

“I think that the way that the entire engineering team has faced the new design, the new project, and the 2022 regulations, which were a big discontinuity, was certainly with a more open mind than before.

“I can myself measure it by looking at the car itself, the way it's progressing, and certainly with the amount of innovation we put in it.”

Alongside an updated hybrid concept, Ferrari has been working hard to develop a new V6 internal combustion engine for its 2022 challenger. 

“The power unit is significantly different to the current one, except the hybrid,” Binotto added. 

“For the hybrid, we introduced it in 2021, as we anticipated what would have been the 2022 rules.

“There will be some changes to the hybrid system for 2022, first for regulations, because more sensors are required from the FIA in all the systems for better policing. But the overall system is very similar to the one we've got and the one we raced at the end of the season.

“But the rest, especially on the internal combustion engine, I have to say is significantly different. We've got a new fuel, which is the 10 percent ethanol, which somehow changed a lot the combustion.

“We are all losing more or less 20 horsepower, which means somehow that the combustion itself is quite changed. So there were a lot of opportunities in development on the power unit and we changed it quite a lot.”

Binotto revealed major changes have also been made “under the bodywork”. 

“I think that the way we approached the exercise was really open-minded,” he explained. 

“And when looking at the car concept, what was possible or not, it is not only the external shapes but whatever you could have done under the bodywork, in terms of layout, in terms of suspension design in terms of full architecture, including as well the power unit and its architecture.

“I think that the team made significant innovations and the overall design that we are now finalising is quite different to the 2021 project."