Mattia Binotto says the 2022 Ferrari, set to be unveiled in mid-February, will feature "a lot of innovation" in terms of the chassis and power unit.

Earlier in the season, Ferrari team boss, Mattia Binotto dismissed talk that his team was targeting third - best of the rest - in the championship fight, but by season end was celebrating the fact that it had held off McLaren.

While the Italian team finished some way off the Mercedes/Red Bull battle, even third was a whole lot better than its 2020 showing when it could only manage sixth.

Looking ahead to next season, which sees the biggest overhaul of the rules for some time, Binotto refuses to make any predictions, but will admit that "innovation" is the name of the game at Maranello.

"If I look at the 2022 car, and the 2022 power unit, believe me there is a lot of innovation in it," he said.

"I think that the way that the entire engineering team has faced the new design, the new project, and the 2022 regulations, which were a big discontinuity, was certainly with a more open mind than before," he added.

"I can measure it by looking at the car itself, the way it is progressing, and certainly with the amount of innovation we put in it," he added.

"On the power unit, it is significantly different to the current one except the hybrid," he explained. "For the hybrid, we introduced it in 2021, as we anticipated what would have been the 2022 rules.

"There will be some changes to the hybrid system for 2022," he continued, "first for regulations, because more sensors are required from the FIA in all the systems for better policing, but the overall system is very similar to the one we've got and the one we raced at the end of this season.

"But the rest, especially on the internal combustion engine, I have to say is significantly different. We've got a new fuel, which is the 10 percent ethanol, which somehow changed a lot the combustion.

"We are all losing more or less 20 horsepower, which means somehow that the combustion itself is quite changed. So there were a lot of opportunities in development on the power unit and we changed it quite a lot."

Asked about the chassis, he responded: "I think that the way we approached the exercise was really open minded.

"When looking at the car concept, what was possible or not, it is not only the external shapes but whatever you could have done under the bodywork, in terms of layout, in terms of suspension design in terms of full architecture, including as well the power unit and its architecture.

"I think that the team made significant innovations and the overall design that we are now finalising is quite different to the 2021 project," he added.

"The car will be presented middle of February," he confirmed. "We have not decided yet the date, from the 16th to 18th, that will be the date, but it's something that will be finalised in the next weeks.

"We know that we have no references to the others and the competitors, he continued. "We have no guide on what is going on with the others. But it's important for me to know that we are reaching our objectives and it's progressing to plan. We know that the change in the regulations is a big opportunity, and for us as well, it's an opportunity.

"We've got a budget cap since 2021 which will be even more restrictive next year, again a big challenge. But on all of that, I have to say the team is well organised and, for me, working strong."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by BrightonCorgi, 25/12/2021 15:09

"Next could be Ferrari as much as it could be Renault or McLaren. "

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2. Posted by kenji, 24/12/2021 8:04

"I'd be more that happy to see Ferrari and McLaren both up there with the 'other' two fighting tooth andfnail for next years titles. Could that happen? Possibly, let's hope so."

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3. Posted by Egalitarian, 23/12/2021 23:54

"It would be good to see Ferrari back at the pointy end. My feeling is that F1 and Ferrari do need each other. But as one of our contributors has pointed out on many an occasion, it would be good if Ferrari could be successful without any cheating or political intervention.
And I quite like the two boys driving too."

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Innovation the key for 2022 Ferrari

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