Ferrari produces new ventilator for facilities dealing with COVID-19 patients

Ferrari has announced the completion of a brand new ventilator that it has manufactured in partnership with the Italian Institute of Technology during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The project has been named FI5, which Ferrari explains stands for the initials of Ferrari and the institute that helped as part of the scheme. The five comes from the number of weeks it needed to produce a fully functioning prototype.

Ferrari has taken part in the fight against the coronavirus in Italy in recent weeks, providing financial support for the Modena area, while also producing valves for pulmonary respirators and fittings for protective face masks. 

Ferrari says FI5 has been produced “to meet the typical demands of medium intensive care; reliable, versatile, easy to use and assemble, able to optimise oxygen consumption and being produced in volume, using easily available materials”.

The project is now open-sourced meaning that the parts and build description is made public, allowing anyone with the resources to build it.

Ferrari has confirmed that companies in Italy, Mexico and the United States have already been in contact in order to certify and distribute the device.

"The challenge of COVID-19 was one we wanted to take on,” said Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto.

“FI5 is the contribution we made as the Scuderia, fielding the very essence of what makes a Formula 1 team and more importantly, all the characteristics that make Ferrari special; its passion, its creativity and its desire to improve.

“This project was a very stimulating experience as well as being truly rewarding for all those involved, who worked side by side with our colleagues from IIT and the other partners. It is initiatives like these that make #essereFerrari, not just a slogan but a distinctive feature of our identity."

The Ferrari working group, headed by its chassis development chief Simone Resta was involved in the production alongside the IIT, who formed a research and engineering team led by the institute's research director Marco Maggiali.