2026 Scuderia Ferrari HP F1 Team

[bluechris]

I think it's too early for conclusions about Hamilton. I want him to be him as it was and i think we all are happy with the last races. As for Leclerc, he will find his mojo soon, i am not worried at all.
I wish the table will change for the rest of the season and watch our drivers fight for the wins from now on.

[sucof]

For Austria I think it will depend on a few things.

If the new intercooler rumors are real, then that could help Ferrari.
https://scuderiafans.com/ferrari-pushes ... e-package/

According to paddock reports, the updated engine expected to make its debut in Austria will significantly increase the temperature of the intake air entering the intercooler. Current estimates suggest Ferrari could be targeting operating temperatures between 110 and 115 degrees Celsius.

Even if the intercooler doesn't help make any more power, it means they can run less cooling than other teams and that means less drag and more DF. I've seen some photos suggesting Ferrari ran less cooling than the Merc powered teams from Saturday onward in Barcelona, and that was one of the things that helped them. Since Austria is at altitude how much cooling a team needs to run is very important.

Austria's weather is also very unpredictable.
2020 : track temp 53C
2021 : track temp 54C
2022 : track temp 34C
2023 : track temp 31C
2024 : track temp 47C
2025 : track temp 50C

Imo we are to far out to trust weather predictions, but current predictions are calling for some amount of rain every day.
https://www.bbc.com/weather/2764812

If Ferrari has the most DF and it rains that would likely be good for them.


What would be bad for Ferrari is cool dry conditions.

I am not an engine expert, but was trying to think about exactly what this means. My idea is that a new intercooler can either be more efficient so the air entering the engine will be cooler, or, can be smaller but letting in the same air temp, or, it can be smaller and letting in hotter air, but the steel piston engine can work with that, hence reducing drag.

I do not know if I can buy the argument I read here before, that hotter air would mean more HP... that is quite against my knowledge of physics and the general knowledge how air temp vs combustion works.

An other solution could be that all these mean, higher turbo pressure and the hotter intake air is just the end result of that. So Ferrari could create a lot higher intake air pressure without enlarging the intercooler or destroying the engine because of the high temps. And the higher intake pressure can result in better combustion and HP.

But I am here to be corrected

[SiLo]

I think it’s actually meant to be slightly less power but the deficit is more than made up for by the aero platform.

[venkyhere]

I do not know if I can buy the argument I read here before, that hotter air would mean more HP... that is quite against my knowledge of physics and the general knowledge how air temp vs combustion works.

I had asked this here, ever since these 'intentionally hotter' media articles started flying around :

What I understood as the general philosophy of Ferrari with the SF26 :
Going for a worse IAT, subsequently resulting in a hotter-than-typical ECT and EGT, and "winning on the packaging front for better aero" , the backpressure from covering half the exhaust "for better aero" - both of which penalize raw power output from the ICE.

Pardon me for the noob question :
1) How exactly is increasing IAT even more, going to win back some of the sacrificed horsepower from 'better combustion chamber efficiency' ?

An other solution could be that all these mean, higher turbo pressure and the hotter intake air is just the end result of that. So Ferrari could create a lot higher intake air pressure without enlarging the intercooler or destroying the engine because of the high temps. And the higher intake pressure can result in better combustion and HP.

But I am here to be corrected

If we can crudely approximate air as an ideal gas, temperature is the avg kinetic energy of any randomly chosen molecule, and pressure is total kinetic energy of such molecules in unit volume (thus including the number density of molecules, in fact, this is the essence of the PV=nRT equation).
The primary purpose of intercooler is to reduce temperature, so that detonation/knock doesn't happen when the piston does adiabatic compression and increases the temperature of the air even further. The 'intercooling' can be achieved very inefficiently, leading to pressure drop, but since the engine would like as many oxygen molecules as it can (the 'n' is what matters, it doesn't care about P or T, as long as T is below a threshold, a turbo is an 'n' increasing device and while doing it the increase of P&T are byproducts of the execution), per combustion, a good intercooler will have minimal pressure drop. If both conditions (good temp reduction and minimal pressure drop) are to be satisfied, the intercooler usually need to have large area (minimal friction through the channels and maximum surface area). By compromising on intercooler area, Ferrari might be ready to 'suffer' more pressure drop or more intake temperature or both, and they might 'combat' it by engineering their fuel to have higher threshold to defend against detonation/knock. But whichever way we cut it, there is no way conventional understanding of ICE can explain 'more temperature of ingested air' by a compression engine producing more horsepower.

[dans79]

Everything in F1 is a trade off, and/or a compounding an effect.

If the engine can run hotter, that means less cooling is needed, and that has aerodynamic benefits. They have more freedom within the legality boxes for aerodynamic "stuff" than can generate more df and/or lower drag. As venkyhere suggested, if the fuel can take it the hotter intake charge might not really matter.

If the car is aerodynamically efficient, it doesn't need as much power as a rival with a less efficient car.

Note that between 2010 and 2013 The Renault was not the most powerful engine it was 3rd behind Mercedes and Ferrari when it came to max power. However it was more fuel efficient, suited exhaust blowing better than it's competition, and supposedly had great drivability. Hence why RB was able to win 4 championships with it.

[Brahmal]

I think it's too early for conclusions about Hamilton.

I have seen enough! Having that connection with the car is a powerful thing that can't be quantified. I think Lewis will continue to improve as he relearns how to drive instinctively again after five years of banging his head against the wall, and him ditching the simulator a few weeks ago is evidence of that process. This update brought by Ferrari worked like a charm, and if they have finally learned how to develop a car and can exploit ADUO even a little then the sky is the limit. I am not even a Lewis or Ferrari fan, but I think there is a good chance we are watching something truly special unfold before our eyes.

[PlatinumZealot]

For Austria I think it will depend on a few things.

If the new intercooler rumors are real, then that could help Ferrari.
https://scuderiafans.com/ferrari-pushes ... e-package/

According to paddock reports, the updated engine expected to make its debut in Austria will significantly increase the temperature of the intake air entering the intercooler. Current estimates suggest Ferrari could be targeting operating temperatures between 110 and 115 degrees Celsius.

Even if the intercooler doesn't help make any more power, it means they can run less cooling than other teams and that means less drag and more DF. I've seen some photos suggesting Ferrari ran less cooling than the Merc powered teams from Saturday onward in Barcelona, and that was one of the things that helped them. Since Austria is at altitude how much cooling a team needs to run is very important.

Austria's weather is also very unpredictable.
2020 : track temp 53C
2021 : track temp 54C
2022 : track temp 34C
2023 : track temp 31C
2024 : track temp 47C
2025 : track temp 50C

Imo we are to far out to trust weather predictions, but current predictions are calling for some amount of rain every day.
https://www.bbc.com/weather/2764812

If Ferrari has the most DF and it rains that would likely be good for them.


What would be bad for Ferrari is cool dry conditions.

I am not an engine expert, but was trying to think about exactly what this means. My idea is that a new intercooler can either be more efficient so the air entering the engine will be cooler, or, can be smaller but letting in the same air temp, or, it can be smaller and letting in hotter air, but the steel piston engine can work with that, hence reducing drag.

I do not know if I can buy the argument I read here before, that hotter air would mean more HP... that is quite against my knowledge of physics and the general knowledge how air temp vs combustion works.

An other solution could be that all these mean, higher turbo pressure and the hotter intake air is just the end result of that. So Ferrari could create a lot higher intake air pressure without enlarging the intercooler or destroying the engine because of the high temps. And the higher intake pressure can result in better combustion and HP.

But I am here to be corrected

Ferrari would use air to water intercooler. So the part that is being upgraded would be the part that doesn't see the free-stream air. This would be optimized to reject more heat from the limiting side - the air to water side for more horsepower.

[PlatinumZealot]

I think it's too early for conclusions about Hamilton.

I have seen enough! Having that connection with the car is a powerful thing that can't be quantified. I think Lewis will continue to improve as he relearns how to drive instinctively again after five years of banging his head against the wall, and him ditching the simulator a few weeks ago is evidence of that process. This update brought by Ferrari worked like a charm, and if they have finally learned how to develop a car and can exploit ADUO even a little then the sky is the limit. I am not even a Lewis or Ferrari fan, but I think there is a good chance we are watching something truly special unfold before our eyes.

Charles will have to dig deep and pull out a sustained storm of champion level driving if he is to beat an on-form Lewis... (though a 41 year old one). It's not just the speed, it's the mind games, the setups, the politics, the race craft, the race engineer symbiosis, the consistency..
He's needs it when the ADUO engine is on the car and Ferrari are the fastest.

[erudite450]

It should be an intriguing race in Austria. I'd never underestimate the Mercedes. If the engine update is true and it's in fact an upgrade, should make the season more exciting albeit we have to bear in mind that the Mercedes and McLaren are one step behind in aero updates.

On the drivers, Leclerc goes well at the Redbull Ring but Hamilton has always struggled there especially in qualy because it's all about corner exits so he might prefer a wet Saturday.

[Brahmal]

Charles will have to dig deep and pull out a sustained storm of champion level driving if he is to beat an on-form Lewis... (though a 41 year old one). It's not just the speed, it's the mind games, the setups, the politics, the race craft, the race engineer symbiosis, the consistency..
He's needs it when the ADUO engine is on the car and Ferrari are the fastest.

Charles is the inverse, in that the basic mechanics of these PU regs prevent him from driving in a way that feels natural and instinctive. I'm sure with time he can figure it out, but may not need to if they ratify the power-split changes for next season. Honestly, the best thing for Ferrari would be Charles declaring a lost season for himself and throwing his weight behind Lewis, though this is probably the realm of fan-fiction. It may take something like that to take down this Mercedes juggernaut.

[amr]

Ferrari would use air to water intercooler. So the part that is being upgraded would be the part that doesn't see the free-stream air. This would be optimized to reject more heat from the limiting side - the air to water side for more horsepower.

Even if is a water intercooler, that water need to be cooled somewhere, I suspect in the sidepods, so while they might reduce the central section drag they might require bigger sidepods. This points to the central volume being more expensive drag wise vs sidepod volume which makes sense.

From my research, the intercooler falls under the ADUO development restrictions so if they update it they could update something else. It might look like a waste of the token to do only the intercooler.

But at the end of the day, special knock delaying fuel or not, as Venkyhere was saying, to get more power we need more oxigen in the ICE. And with the boost pressure limited to 4.8 bars by the regulation the only way to do that in a conventional way is to drop the intake temperature to make the charge air more dense.

Less conventional way to bring oxigen in the combustion chamber might be by having a oxigen rich fuel that brings with it some of the oxigen required for the burn. And maybe the higher temperature on the intake is used to evaporate more easily this oxigen before burning. But fuel flow limits mean you need to trade some hydrocarbons if you want oxigen.

Even less conventional would be to "separate" the air in its components such that you can "enrich" the intake air with oxigen, but for a F1 engine flow, volume, and weight requirements that would be sci-fi.