Ferrari has announced that the Formula One racing team, Marussia F1 Team has now become one of its F1 customer teams. With this long term alliance, the team will be supplied with the whole powertrain which complies with the new guidelines for the 2014 season.
Marussia F1 team is a trading name of Marussia Motors’ subsidiary, Manor Grand Prix Racing Limited. In 2010, Marussia Motors (Russian Firm) had bought a significant percent of shares in the team. The team thus made its debut as “Marussia F1 team” at the 2012 Australian Grand Prix. It earlier raced under the tags of Marussia Virgin (2011) and Virgin Racing (2010). This team races in the Formula One championship with a Russian License.
Scuderia Ferrari is a racing team of the Ferrari Automobiles. This team mostly races in the F1 championships but has also participated in other racing events. It has been a part of Grand Prix Racing since the year 1929. Scuderia Ferrari is said to be the best team in the history of Formula One racing championships so far. The team has won 16 constructors’ championships and 15 drivers’ championships so far.
Ferrari has always designed their own engines for F1 racing. Not only this, they have also manufactured engines for the other teams in the championship. With Marussia F1 team, Ferrari will now have 3 F1 Racing customer teams. The other 2 teams which run on Ferrari engines are Sauber and Toro Rosso. At present Marussia receives engines from Cosworth. Some other F1 teams like Mclaren and Force India have also changed their engine suppliers. Mclaren will now receive its entire powertrain from Honda engines. Mclaren has a tie up with Force India for technology exchange. Since it has moved to Honda engines, it is likely that Force India will also do the same. This means that Mercedes Engines will be used by their own racing team, Mercedes AMG, only.
Formula racing presently uses ‘ 4 stroke naturally aspirated V8 reciprocating engines’ with a 2.4 litre capacity. This engine gives an output of 300 bhp/ litre of displacement. This is far greater than any combustion engine. The 2014 guidelines have made some changes in the engine requirements. Now the 2014 season will see turbo charged V6 engines with smaller displacement values.
It is because of these new 2014 guidelines that the F1 teams are changing their powertrain providers. As is now, it is difficult to say which engine will perform better. All the companies are tirelessly testing their engines and only the outcome of the races at the 2014 championship will give the final results.
CEO of Marussia F1 team, Andy Webb said that “The Marussia F1 Team is delighted to be entering into a technical partnership with Scuderia Ferrari for the supply of a full powertrain from 2014. The importance of this development to our team cannot be overstated. Not only will we benefit from a customer supply from the most successful engine manufacturer in F1’s history, but this also provides further confirmation, if it were needed, of our commitment to the sport and determination to maintain our progression towards our long-term ambitions. The new powertrain regulations being introduced next year represent the most substantial engine development within the sport since the introduction of the V8 formula and are all the more significant for the increased contribution of the Energy Recovery System. We look forward to working with Scuderia Ferrari during this exciting new era of F1 competition. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Cosworth, with whom we have partnered since our debut season in 2010. We have shared an important part of our team’s journey together and Cosworth has been an integral part of our clear progression. We will continue to work together during the latter half of the season to ensure we all achieve our combined objectives before Cosworth leave[s] the sport.”
