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Ferrari looks set to join Mercedes in knocking on the door of 1000 horse power from its 2018-spec 'power unit'. Earlier this month, Mercedes was believed to be just 50hp shy of the landmark four-digit power value: "If the world champions maintain their approximate development speed, 1000hp will be reached", a correspondent for Germany's Auto Motor und Sport claimed.
However, GPS measurements showed late last year that Ferrari only trailed Mercedes by 15hp with its own 2017 power unit. And now Leo Turrini, a journalist known for being close to Ferrari, says the Maranello team is also knocking on the door of 1000hp for 2018.
"A huge effort has been made to put the power unit on a diet," he wrote in his Quotidiano blog. "One of Mercedes' advantages was the lower weight of the overall package, but Ferrari has been successful in its mission. On the test bench, 1000hp has already been seen at maximum peak power, even if Mercedes has already been there."
Turrini thinks Ferrari will have a good chance of taking on Mercedes on equal terms in 2018: "On the aerodynamic side, tunnel data shows an important step, although it will only be possible to understand more at the first Barcelona tests," he said. "But it's good to dream."
Grand Prix of Belgium
C. Sainz jr
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Replies (7)
Login to replyBarron
Posts: 625
1000 horses & Kimi Raikkonen to keep them reined in.
mcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
Even if Ferrari's engine, and Vettel are comperable to Merc.'s Engine, and Lewis. Bottas is clearly better than Kimi. Ferrari should develop keeping Kimi in its mind.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
"One of Mercedes' advantages was the lower weight of the overall package, but Ferrari has been successful in its mission. On the test bench, 1000hp has already been seen at maximum peak power, even if Mercedes has already been there."
Weird, I had heard that the Ferrari unit remained the lighter of the two since 2016. But either way, I really hope they have what it takes to remain on track against Mercedes.
NSBiker
Posts: 18
WOW .... quite an accomplishment.
Seems that I recall that Honda hit the magic milestone back in the 3 Liter V-10 days too. But what's that you say .... BMW broke well beyond 1,200 BHP with a production based 1,500 cc turbo 4.
Ahhhhh what price progress.?? Hope this isn't just hype.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
They did. Honda had the fastest F1 engine in 2004. But remember that there are far more factors to take into consideration these days. Fuel efficiency, reliability, limitations on engine designs... Those things werent really a factor when BMW created that badass engine. So to create a 1K Hp engine now which can survive a third of a season is an impressive feat. Furthermore, the current ICE is way lighter than that beefy Bimmer. Its easy to make a fast, large unit, but a compact, light unit? My main concern is that we arent likely to actually see 1K horsies on track anytime soon. Not with the current allocation limitations.
Pauli
Posts: 140
They will use max peak hp in qualifications. But race 1k hp will likely not happen unless there is Baku style last lap overtake required. Both Ferrari and Mercedes have surprising good designs to gain temporary power boost for qualification without harming the engine too much. They have improved in that ever since the PU era start and I would be surprised if they couldn't keep using very powerful qualification mode even with 7 race requirement.
FatMike
Posts: 153
Absolutely no way to derive from this news if this has any value or not. Merc engines have been so superior because of weight and heat to stored energy ratio through their mguh. That's where they have been very strong and ahead. The increase in efficiency is also where they squeeze out the extra hp.
If Ferrari managed these peaks through their combustion unit this means little. They were struggling on fuel last season. No reason to think that more power from the combustion unit would go hand in hand with lower fuel consumption. So whatever their Dyno's show they won't be able to keep up in a race.