Ferrari have made improvements to their engine after receiving permission from the FIA, on grounds of reliability.
The 2.4 litre V8 Type 056 engine has suffered from five failures so far this season: Fernando Alonso has suffered two, whilst engine customer Sauber has suffered three. Two in Pedro de la Rosa’s car and one in Kamui Kobayashi’s.
Engine development is frozen under the homolgation rules introduced in 2007 which stop manufacturers from improving their performance, however the FIA allow small changes to ensure the engines are reliable as they now have to last longer with the introduction of the eight engines per season regulation.
The Italian team confirmed they had permission from the FIA, and that all new engines will be upgraded, including those of customer team Sauber and Toro Rosso – who are yet to suffer a problem. The old engines which have been used prior to now, will not feature the updates.
“The F10 package that has undergone close scrutiny in recent weeks is the engine,” said Ferrari. “A lot of work was carried out on the test bench, completing several long runs and this work produced some solutions which it is felt will solve the reliability problems experienced in Bahrain and Malaysia.
“The team therefore requested and received authorisation from the FIA to make some changes within the framework of the current engine regulations and these modifications will be fitted to the engines to be used in Spain.
“While since China, everyone in the Gestione Sportiva has been working hard as always on their various areas of activity, it is fair to say that over the past weeks, the staff in the Engine department really produced a major effort, working night and day to analyse, evaluate and solve issues that have affected engine performance in past races.”
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