Ferrari-engined cars have turned heads at Formula 1 testing after taking off “like rockets” in the end-of-season collective practice race starts.
Lewis Hamilton in the works car and Esteban Ocon in the Ferrari-powered Haas comfortably made the best getaways on Thursday evening in Bahrain, where these dress rehearsals are inconclusive but still indicative.
In the evening, Hamilton moved from the ninth row to the lead at the first corner, and although he ‘only’ overtook four cars in that time due to some grid spaces being empty, two of those had started on the front row: Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes and Max Verstappen’s Red Bull.
Ocon would probably have gone to the front himself had his engine not stopped deploying electric power due to Haas opting for a conservative mode before Turn 1.
“I think everyone is taking it seriously, it looks like, because they were doing pre-start revs etc,” said Ocon when asked by The Race about how much could be read into the starts.
“And yes, me and Lewis we rocket past everybody, pretty much.
“On my side they’ve put some safety before Turn 1 so I clipped after 200 metres! I was a bit frustrated, let’s say, that I had to reach the boost button to go faster.
“But it’s only testing and the important was the first 200 metres.”
Earlier in the day, at the end of the first test session, Hamilton had made another excellent start - much better than George Russell’s Mercedes - along with Ollie Bearman, who drove the Haas in the morning. Lando Norris had a very delayed start in the McLaren.
Though there is obviously a need for some caution in reading into these practice situations, mainly due to the potential for drivers to be using different settings, much less it not being the real thing, they are taken seriously as they are a rare opportunity to test a critical procedure.
That is especially so with the new 2026 engines and an experimental start process to help with the difficulty so many are having in preparing the engine’s turbo for the launch – which is where a key Ferrari advantage lies.
The Ferrari engine is understood to have a smaller turbo, a conscious choice with its 2026 design to deal with certain challenges around the new rules.
With no MGU-H anymore, just an uprated MGU-K to deliver the electric portion of the near 50/50 power split with the V6, there is no way to electronically spin the turbo to make sure the boost pressure is high enough to deliver power when the driver demands it through the throttle.
The way around this is for teams to pre-spin the turbo, which is why most cars are using lower gears in corners than before and are revving the engines while stationary prior to a race start - this has gone for practice starts in the pitlane and those on the grid.
Ferrari, which took its decision on engine architecture having raised the likelihood of tricky starts without the MGU-H one year ago, does not have to worry about this so much. A smaller turbo spins faster, which makes it easier to get the boost pressure required, as it takes less energy to spin it.
This is why the Ferrari-engined cars are using second gear in corners where others are now downshifting to first, but it also seems to come with an advantage in other areas.
Rival drivers have noted how strong the Ferrari cars are on corner exit, for example, again a result of having better responsiveness on throttle. And the starts are another area the Ferrari engine seems to be strong.
Its starts have been predictable and repeatable across multiple cars now, which cannot be said for all teams as trying to get the revs in the right range for the turbo and then also for the launch itself has not been easy.
One driver said “everything seems to be fighting everything else” – which is not looking at all the case for the Ferrari cars.
Ocon is pleased with how repeatable the Ferrari starts are, as while it is “not quite yet the same as last year” it is already “nowhere near how it was in the beginning of the test and when we tried these cars for the first time”.
“That was pretty strong the last two days, the way we started,” he said.
“We're happy with it. We need to see when we go into tracks where there is much more grip on the line.”
from The Race https://ift.tt/IKVsdgo
No comments: