Eighth gear is the most used gear at Spa, claims Ferrari's Francesco Carrozzo
The eighth gear is the most used gear around the fast, flowing and daunting Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, claims Francesco Carrozzo, one of Ferrari's young engineer.
Francesco Carrozzo is one of the young engineers of Scuderia Ferrari who are growing within the team. The 33-year-old Italian works as test and track engineer of the team on track, responsible for the transmission of the SF-24.
Expanding on the characteristics of the Spa-Francorchamps track, Carrozzo noted: “Spa-Francorchamps is one of the most iconic circuits in the championship, personally among my favorites.
"It is famous especially for the legendary Eau Rouge corner, tackled by drivers at over 300 km/h, which in person looks like a real wall to climb. It is also the longest circuit in the championship, with almost 50 gear changes per lap in qualifying, and is characterized by long super-fast sections to be driven at full throttle: not surprisingly, the most used gear is the eighth!
"It alternates slow corners like La Source and the Bus Stop, tackled in second gear, where the driver must control tire slip on exit with pedal sensitivity, and fast corners like Blanchimont and Eau Rouge, taken at full throttle.”
Speaking of the stress the gearbox receives over a race weekend, Carrozzo said that Spa is not particularly demanding.
“The gearbox is the link between the torque delivered by the PU and that actually transmitted to the ground by the tires. It receives all the stresses in terms of accelerations and loads coming from the interaction between the rear tires and the asphalt, such as bumps, curbs, lockups, and slips.
"Consequently, it must be an extremely versatile and reliable component, given the repeated use of the same unit over many Grands Prix.”
“A significant part of the stress also comes from the gear changes themselves: thousands are performed in a single Grand Prix, and all must be extremely quick and precise.
"Among the most demanding tracks for this element, I would certainly mention Singapore, where the particular track layout imposes continuous ‘stop-and-go’ for the driver, who is constantly engaged in gear changes, totaling over 8,000 over the course of the weekend.”
Carrozzo was raised in Sicily in a small town on the east coast in the province of Messina. He then studied engineering in Catania and then in Turin, where he started working at some automotive companies.
"In 2019, I had the opportunity to join the gearbox testing group at Ferrari, and I didn’t hesitate to move from Turin to Maranello.”
“I started working as a gearbox engineer on test benches and then joined the trackside group of the customer teams. Since last year, I have been working with the Scuderia Ferrari trackside group, and it is obviously a great source of pride and satisfaction, not only for me but also for my family and loved ones," said the Italian.
