RED BULL GETS FERRARI SUPPORT IN ENGINE ROW
Ferrari has performed a U-turn which may enable Red Bull to take up its preferred option of retaining its Honda hybrid powertrain when the Japanese marque withdraws from F1 at the end of 2021. Both Ferrari and Renault had opposed a proposal to freeze engine specs from 2022 until 2026, when a new engine formula was due to be introduced.
A freeze would enable Red Bull to take on the intellectual property of the Honda powertrain and run the power units in both its teams without having to invest in development, a technical domain outside its skillset.
But there were several obstacles to the freeze, of which Ferrari’s initial opposition was just one. FIA president Jean Todt had pledged to introduce fuels from 100% sustainable sources from 2023 onwards, a desire which would have been incompatible with the engine freeze. Renault remains opposed to the idea of a freeze from the start of 2022. It had previously proposed that timing, only to have the idea blocked by… Red Bull (long before Honda’s announcement). Renault then committed to building a new power unit for 2022.
The key to Ferrari’s change of heart has been an agreement between the stakeholders to bring forward the introduction of the next-generation power units to 2025. Provided a specification can be agreed in the coming months, this is achievable. There’s also the hope that if the new powertrain format can be made more affordable and less challenging to engineer, it may provide a more level playing field and tempt more manufacturers to join
F1. While the V6 hybrid formula has enabled F1 to achieve levels of fuel efficiency hitherto thought impossible, that success has come at great cost. The power units have proved expensive to research and manufacture, and only Mercedes has succeeded in consistently being the most powerful and reliable.
GP Racing understands Ferrari changed its stance after receiving assurances a convergence framework would be agreed before 2022, and that the next-generation engines would cost 50% less to develop than the current hybrids. After the debacle of 2020, the Scuderia is developing an all-new power unit for 2021, and it would harm Ferrari’s competitive prospects if this engine also fell short and then a development freeze enshrined that disadvantage for the following three seasons.
“We understand their [Red Bull’s] intention to keep using their Honda engine for the future,” said Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto. “We had meetings in the last days with F1 and the FIA. I think as Ferrari, we understand the situation. “Knowing and understanding the situation, it’s not the first time that Ferrari is acting in a responsible way in that respect.”
But Ferrari and Red Bull may not yet get their way. Renault insists a 2022 freeze is incompatible with the development timeline it has mapped out, while Mercedes has rejected the idea of convergence, likening it to the kind of performance-balancing systems seen in other categories.
“I think this would be the beginning of the end [of F1],” said Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.