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Ferrari engine not a disadvantage now - Binotto
Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto believes pre-season testing in Bahrain has proven the Italian power unit is no longer a disadvantage.
2020 was a painful year for all the Ferrari-powered teams, with a clear power unit deficit compared to Mercedes, Renault and Honda. Manufacturers were able to freely upgrade their engines through the winter and Binotto says the progress that Ferrari was seeing on the dyno has translated to an improvement on track.
“Obviously we know how the engine is running on the dyno,” Binotto said. “When you fit it in the car, what you may have a look at on track is the speed and eventually the relative speed to the others.
“When we were here last year in Bahrain for the race and for qualifying we were very slow on the straights -- we didn’t enter into Q3 and we were very distant from pole. Now if I look at the first days I think at least on the straights the speed is all right. It doesn't seem to be such a disadvantage as it was last year.
“We know it’s not only power, it’s the drag of the car as well -- as we often said last year -- but let me say that both of them contributed in improving our speed on the straights and today we feel it is not anymore a disadvantage.”
Binotto says there have also been improvements when it comes to the rear of the new Ferrari, taking particular encouragement from the way changes in the wind tunnel and in simulations are playing out in reality.
“We tried to develop the back of the car as much as we could. I think what was more important for these days was to understand the correlation between the wind tunnel and the simulations, so gathering data and comparing. I think we are pretty happy with the correlation, which means we’ve got a good baseline at least for the next simulations and eventual developments.
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Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
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