- Ferrari
Ferrari holds 2014 engine packaging advantage - Allison
Ferrari technical director James Allison is confident Ferrari will have a big advantage in 2014 due to its in-house engine department.
Ferrari will be one of just three engine suppliers next year when new V6 turbos with more powerful energy recovery systems will replace this year's naturally aspirated V8s. The new engines have undergone years of development but Ferrari only launched its V6, the 059/3, on Thursday at a ceremony in Maranello.
One of the big challenges facing all teams will be packaging the engine alongside the greater cooling requirements within the chassis. Allison believes this is one area where Ferrari will have an advantage as the engine and chassis have been developed in tandem.
"Being able to build the engine and chassis together is definitely a nice advantage for Ferrari," he said. "Other teams cannot do the same and this year, like never before, installing the new power unit in the car's chassis will be a complex operation.
"I've got direct experience of that from my time at Lotus: it's true the engine supplier tries to meet your demands, but it's never the same thing as happens here, where there is a historical culture relating to a common task of defining and developing the design of the new car."
Ferrari's head of engines and electronics Luca Marmorini added: "We have worked side by side with our chassis colleagues over the years. Precisely because we know there is no point in we engine engineers pushing too much emphasis on our single project if then it doesn't adapt to a winning car. This is the case not just as far as the engine is concerned, but also relates to all the other elements of this powertrain which, as you can understand, is much more complex than in the past."
One of Red Bull's strengths in recent years has been its ability to redirect exhaust gases to improve the performance of the diffuser, but under next year's regulations that should be impossible. Allison said he welcomed the ban on exhaust blowing.
"That argument also holds true for an element which, in recent years has been the centre of attention, namely the exhausts. Blowing them offered interesting technical challenges, but I have to say that, personally, I am pleased they have been eliminated and that we can go back to designing exhausts aimed at getting the most out of the power of the engine."
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