FERRARI F10

   The regulatory revolution of 2010 (the ban on refuelling during races, the de facto abolition of KERS, the increase in minimum weight and the reduction of the front tyre tread width) forced the Maranello team to design a completely new single-seater: the Ferrari F10. Born under the internal project code 056, it was the fifty-sixth Formula 1 car produced by Ferrari to compete in the World Championship. Team Principal Stefano Domenicali, entering his third season at the helm of the Scuderia, decided to reorganize the Maranello structure, bringing back key engineers and redistributing responsibilities in order to close the technical and aerodynamic gap that had developed against its rivals.

FERRARI F10, Fernando Alonso
Barcelona-Catalunya, Spanish GP 2010

   Aldo Costa (Technical Director) was the man in charge of the entire F10 project. Costa coordinated the main departments (chassis, engine, production) and reported directly to Domenicali. Under his leadership, the engineering department overcame the structural shortcomings of the previous year, producing a car that was immediately reliable and competitive. Greek engineer Nikolas Tombazis (Chief Designer) was the designer behind the F10’s shapes, tasked with adopting the “V-shaped” high nose philosophy and redesigning the internal architecture to make room for the oversized fuel tank of more than 200 litres. Marco de Luca (Head of Aerodynamics) and Nicolas Hennen (Chief Aerodynamicist) worked closely with Tombazis, managing wind tunnel activities and CFD software, and were responsible for the aerodynamic development that led to the crucial 2010 upgrades, such as the integration of low-blown exhausts and the rear wing stalling system (F-Duct). Italian engineers Marco Fainello (Head of Vehicle Engineering), Tiziano Battistini (Head of Chassis Design) and Simone Resta (Head of R&D) completed the design staff responsible for the F10. During race weekends, Chris Dyer (Chief of Track Engineers), an Australian engineer, was on the pit wall coordinating track operations and race strategies. He would later pay the price for the disastrous strategic mistake at the final Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, being removed from his position at the beginning of 2011. The race engineers for the two official drivers (the two-time World Champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso, in his first season driving for Ferrari, and Brazilian Felipe Massa) were respectively Andrea Stella and Rob Smedley. Regarding engine and electronics management, 2010 brought a major change, with the return to the team of Luca Marmorini (Engine and Electronics Director). After a long period at Toyota, Marmorini returned to Maranello at the end of 2009, replacing the long-serving Gilles Simon. Working alongside him was Lorenzo Sassi (Engine Chief Designer), and together their work was outstanding in optimizing the fuel consumption of the Tipo 056 V8 engine and solving the overheating issues encountered at the start of the season by modifying the pneumatic valve return system. Overall, the 2010 technical staff proved to be of an extremely high level from a purely engineering and mechanical standpoint, managing to develop a car capable of recovering, during the summer, a deficit of almost 50 points in the championship standings.

FERRARI F10, Fernando Alonso
Melbourne, Australian GP 2010 

   The aerodynamic development of the F10 was based on three fundamental areas: the “V-shaped” front end, the management of the floor related to the engine inclination, and the introduction of blown exhausts and the F-Duct. Abandoning the low and straight nose philosophy of the F60, Tombazis followed the trend introduced by Adrian Newey. The F10 featured a significantly higher nose, hollowed out in the lower section, with pronounced “V-shaped” recesses on the upper surface of the monocoque to channel airflow towards the car floor. The long and widely spaced front wing supports acted as genuine flow conditioners (turning vanes), directing the maximum possible amount of air underneath the chassis towards the entrance of the flat floor. Born with an integrated double diffuser, the F10 required an extremely high-speed airflow in the lower area to feed it. For this reason, the engineers tilted the engine/gearbox assembly forward by approximately 3.5° (with the rear section raised), creating a cleaner and wider channel for the lower airflow directed towards the double diffuser. During the season, the F10 underwent a true aerodynamic metamorphosis, culminating with the upgrade package introduced at the European Grand Prix in Valencia. The exhaust outlets were repositioned, moving them towards the base of the floor, following the example of Red Bull. The hot, high-energy exhaust gases were blown directly into the diffuser channel in the area inside the rear wheel, creating real air barriers that diverted harmful turbulence generated by tyre rotation, preventing it from entering beneath the diffuser. To counter McLaren’s straight-line efficiency, Ferrari also introduced the F-Duct system, a complex airflow channeling solution that started from a front air intake and ran along the engine cover to the rear wing. There, the airflow was forced out through a millimetre-wide slot located on the upper surface of the main rear wing profile, causing aerodynamic stall that allowed the car to gain around 10 km/h in top speed.

FERRARI F10, Fernando Alonso
Montréal, Canadian GP 2010

   The mechanical design of the F10 was also completely revised due to the new regulations, above all the ban on refuelling. The new chassis had to accommodate the transition from a 90–100 kg fuel tank to one capable of holding approximately 160–170 kg of fuel. To avoid widening the sidepods (a solution that would have destroyed aerodynamic efficiency), the honeycomb carbon-fibre chassis was extended in the area between the driver’s shoulders and the front engine bulkhead. With the introduction of narrower Bridgestone front tyres (reduced from 270 mm to 245 mm) and the enormous weight variation between qualifying and race conditions, the suspension system required completely new kinematics, while maintaining the traditional push-rod configuration on both axles. To manage the strong aerodynamic compression (bottoming) on straights caused by the double diffuser, without making the suspension excessively stiff in slow corners, the F10 used complex hydromechanical systems (third element or inerter) that controlled the car’s pitch independently from lateral roll. Because of the engine/gearbox inclination, the internal gears and gearbox shaft had to be tilted upwards relative to the engine’s longitudinal axis. This required specific work on the forced lubrication system to prevent cavitation phenomena or lubricant accumulation in the rear section of the gearbox casing during the car’s extreme longitudinal accelerations. The radiator packaging inside the sidepods was also completely revised, with longer sidepods due to the wheelbase increase to 3550 mm compared with the 3050 mm of the 2009 F60.

FERRARI F10, Fernando Alonso
Shanghai, Chinese GP 2010

   The Ferrari F10 was essentially a single-seater that was born well and proved highly competitive. The potential shown during winter testing was immediately confirmed at the opening Grand Prix in Sakhir. The F10 quickly proved to be the car to beat over race distance, with Fernando Alonso winning on his Ferrari debut, followed on the podium by teammate Felipe Massa. In Australia, Massa finished third and Alonso fourth, with the F10 excelling in medium- and low-speed corners and showing excellent traction out of hairpins, immediately handling the record fuel loads imposed by the new regulations. However, the F10 struggled to bring the front Bridgestone tyres into the optimal temperature window during a single qualifying lap, forcing the drivers to start from the second or third row and making races more complicated. After a relatively disappointing opening phase of the championship, the major performance breakthrough arrived at the European Grand Prix in Valencia, where a deeply revised version of the F10 debuted. The introduction of low-blown exhausts and the refinement of the F-Duct transformed the car’s dynamic behaviour. The Ferrari F10 became a formidable race machine. Its mechanical balance allowed it to preserve the Bridgestone tyres over long stints much better than the Red Bull RB6, which often suffered from rear tyre overheating. Between the German Grand Prix and the Brazilian Grand Prix, Alonso consistently finished on the podium, achieving four victories. Despite being one of the most balanced and consistent cars on the grid, the F10’s season ended with the traumatic strategic mistake at the final Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which cost Ferrari the drivers’ world title in favour of Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel. Alonso finished second in the championship with 252 points, only four points behind Vettel, while Massa finished sixth with 144 points. With 396 points, the Scuderia finished third in the Constructors’ Championship.