Ferrari happy with relaxed engine rules
Scuderia Ferrari is taking the new sporting regulation for 2017 regarding the development of power units with delight as it felt the previous token system made the hands of engine manufacturers tied and heavily reduced the chance to catch up with the leading system.
A new engine formula was introduced in F1 at the start of the 2014 season with the more efficient, but rather complex hybrid powertrains. The new regulation saw a manufacturer excel and dominate over its rivals. Mercedes took control of the competitive order and secured a scarily big advantage.
Depite to the fact that manufacturers were able to work on their engines over the winter between 2014/2015 and 2015/2016, heavily limited testing outings and tight testing calendar meant manufacturers had to be careful with their development.
Development has been secured over the seasons, but the limitation by the so called token system and the limited number of power units led to more conservative development rate.
In a bid to enhance engine convergence, FIA, the four engine manufacturers and the teams decided that they scrap the token system altogether.
Ferrari whose power train is supposed to be the closest to the field-leading, ever dominant Mercedes welcomes the changes.
"We are in favour of not having the tokens, this for us is a good thing,” said Luigi Fraboni, Ferrari’s head of power unit operations."
“Of course next year you will have still the four power units so we need to follow the rule, but not have the tokens will give you more flexibility on making you plan and also on changes during the season.”
Ferrari has already used all its tokens and it is the only team without any chance for further development. The fabled Italian team is confident that the work which is being put into next year’s concept is proceeding as planned.
“On our side, we already used the tokens this year so this means that we had quite a strong evolution during the season and so not having this this limit for next season is good and at the moment the development of the power unit for 2017 is proceeding quite well,” Fraboni sounded confident about Ferrari’s prospects for the 2017 campaign.
