SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium -- Ferrari is confident it still has plenty of potential to develop its current power unit concept as it looks to gain an edge in outright power over main rivals Mercedes.
After spending three years off the pace of the German manufacturer following the introduction of the current engine regulations in 2014, Ferrari has finally closed the gap to Mercedes this season. Plenty of attention has been given to improvements on the chassis side under F1's new aero regulations for 2017, but Ferrari technical director Mattia Binotto says power unit development should not be forgotten.
"If we look compared to previous years the rate of development is still quite constant, but there has still been a very big impact on performance from the power unit development itself [this year]," he told ESPN. "The power unit is not only efficiency or power, it's drivability, it's car installation, layout and centre of gravity.
"But I have to say that we cannot forget the power unit and it is still a very big part of our development and the impact of the overall performance of the vehicle itself. Certainly the chassis and the aero is very visible and there has been a lot of discussion about it, but it's not all about that."
Unlike Renault and Honda, which used the winter to overhaul their power units for 2016, Ferrari continued with the same concept this year. So far, it has introduced three of its four power units for the season and, although he would not confirmed when it will be introduced, Binotto is confident there is still plenty of room for improvement with the final update.
"There is still much room to gain and I think that has been demonstrated [this year]. Certainly, even if we have kept the same philosophy and concept [from last year] we have made great progress, but there is nothing major in terms of the change of concept itself."
Under the current engine regulations, a fuel flow limit of 100kg/hour means performance improvements are primarily found through efficiency gains. Ferrari attributes 23.3 per cent of its total efficiency gain since the end of 2014 to its fuel and oils and Shell, Ferrari's supplier, is also confident there is more to come when the team introduces its final engine upgrade of 2017.
"As Mattia said, we are still on a steep slope of development with the power unit, the fuel and the oil so there is certainly some headspace, but as the technology matures inevitably those gains will diminish -- but we are not seeing that just yet," Shell motorsport innovation manager Guy Lovett said. "As we've got one more power unit to use this year, we have got more iterations of fuel and oil to improve performance.
"We are constantly chasing combustion efficiency, so when we ignite and combust the fuel we are looking to extract as much energy as we can from every single drop of fuel that's injected into the combustion chamber, so pushing efficiency is absolutely key. On the lubricant and engine oil side it's all about friction and we want to minimise friction as far as possible without compromising durability and protection. That has been really important this year as each driver now only has four power units as opposed to five."