After the summer break, Ferrari suddenly won the races at Monza and Spa-Francorchamps, circuits where power weighs heavily. The red cars fell back after the FIA new ones technical directives issued with regard to the fuel flow and the sensors that must keep track that everything is done according to the rules.
At the time, however, Mercedes was already aware that one had to find extra horsepower quickly, because the backlog became too big: “In some races we saw a power difference of 50 kilowatts (which equals 68 hp, ed.)” , the Austrian said in conversation with Car, engine and sport.
“So the question for us was how we could get more power from our power source. Because development is restricted in all other areas, we could only look for that in the internal combustion engine. We reversed every stone.”
Wolff has spoken of an ‘ironic’ situation in the past. Ferrari’s actions prompted Mercedes to step up, while Ferrari was subsequently whistled back. All the profits that Mercedes made counted twice, which partly explains the huge power difference between the Mercedes and Ferrari engines in 2020.
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