Ferrari's Gualtieri sees significant gains for new power unit

Ferrari's head of power unit Enrico Gualtieri says that the team has been working hard over the winter to overcome the problems they endured in 2020, and that it has already found a gain of a tenth of a second from the power unit.

Last year Ferrari suffered its worst season in three decades, with much of the blame being placed on the underwhelming engine after a number of technical directives from the FIA took aim at the controversial power unit.

Although the precise issues were never publicly disclosed or acknowledged by the team or the governing body, last year's engine was significantly lacking in straight line speed - not just with the works Ferrari but also in the customer cars for Alfa Romeo and Haas.

But Gualtieri is confident that Italian manufacturer has successfully got to grips with the problems it faced in 2020.

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“In our sport, you have to be continuously aware of the areas where you can improve, the points you can improve," he said at the official launch of the new SF21 on Wednesday.

"We know well that past success do not guarantee success in the future and that our glorious history does not guarantee victory," he continued. "You have to continuously think about your lessons, and experience, and learn from your defeats. And then you work hard, with humility.

"As engine engineers, last season on track produced a clear picture of where we were and that was our starting point," he continued. "It was that awareness, combined with our determination, our skills and those of our partners that led to the creation of the 065/6 power unit for the 2021 season.

"We adopted a systematic approach, with all departments - design, simulation, development, track - working together to find every opportunity for improvement.

"We worked a lot on the layout of the power unit, to make the overall design of the car as efficient as possible. With the internal combustion engine, we focused on increasing its level of thermal efficiency.

"This has produced an improvement in lap time that we estimate at over one tenth of a second," he reported.

“The turbocharger has been revised, to meet the needs of the motor and, at the same time, we have planned to increase the efficiency in the recovery of the exhaust fumes.

"We are also carrying out further development on the hybrid system and the electronics, in order to revise and optimise all components.

“The 065/6, therefore, was born out of all of this. It has been teamwork, we have all worked together. We have put enormous energy into this project, but we’re already working hard on the power unit for 2022.

"Enzo Ferrari used to say that the motor is the heart of a racing car that has a soul," he concluded. "This describes the responsibilities that all of us feel when we recall his words."

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