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Ferrari has 'plenty of ideas' for final power unit tokens

The chief designer of Ferrari’s power unit says the Italian manufacturer has “plenty of ideas” on how to spend its final development tokens this season.

Ferrari has four tokens still to spend before the end of the season, having used six of its ten available so far this year. Following updates in Canada and Monza, Ferrari’s chief designer power unit Lorenzo Sassi declines to say if the tokens will be used ahead of this weekend’s United States Grand Prix but suggests it has a number of options available.

“The Austin track has three interesting facets: the first is what’s known as the power effect, or the importance the output from the power unit has on lap time, which is very high at this track,” Sassi said. “The second is energy management, because the long straights mean we have to ensure good energy recovery in order to maintain performance on those straights. Last, but by no means least, is the fact the track features many sections that rise and fall, which makes managing oil pressure critical.

“We expect fuel consumption to be less critical than in Sochi, but it’s still a parameter we will be monitoring carefully, because only when we take to the track on Friday and Saturday will we get a true picture of the situation.

“As for our development tokens, we still have four left and plenty of ideas on how to spend them, both on increasing power for this season and also looking ahead to 2016.”

Engine manufacturers agreed during a meeting last week to allow in-season power unit development again next season, though the change still needs to be ratified by the World Motor Sport Council.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.