Yahoo Autos Ferrari Considers Entering Formula E
This week, Ferrari CEO Sergio Marchionne revealed the Italian automaker has debated entering Formula E. But as Marchionne told Autosport, mid-race car swaps and technical restrictions are holding Ferrari back.
"If Formula E requires people to change cars during a race because we exhaust the power available within a given car, that is not something that Ferrari would naturally gravitate to," he told reporters.
Currently, drivers are required to make a pit stop and swap cars, since the batteries don't have enough energy to last an entire race. This process should be eliminated for the 2018-19 season thanks to new, higher capacity batteries supplied by McLaren Applied Technologies.
"Secondly, the standardisation associated with the electric car is something which runs against the grain of Ferrari because otherwise it will prevent [Ferrari] from playing whatever it is that it does technically on a vehicle," Marchionne also said.
According to Autosport, Formula E currently uses a single-make chassis built by Italian firm Dallara. That means every competitor gets the same car, minus the motor, transmission, and inverter. While the series still intends to loosen its restrictions on battery development, Marchionne isn't fully convinced.
"It is possible that [after] some level of maturity that Ferrari would develop a unique set of skills that will make that car uniquely Ferrari, in an environment like that, but I know we are not there today," he said.
via Autocar
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