Ferrari dominated proceedings at Qatar, taking their first 1-2-3 in WEC history. Surprisingly, though, they haven't been pegged back for the race on their home turf — a race they almost won last year.
Let's investigate the BoP changes and use power to weight ratio to see what the race may look like.
Weight
The majority of cars have been given a weight increase here — 5 cars, compared to 3 losing weight. The headline news is Porsche losing 11kg, dropping from 1064kg to 1053kg.
Ferrari have been handed a 8kg increase, while Cadillac have gained the most at 11kg. This makes sense, as the two were by far the fastest at Qatar.
Peugeot have lost a kilogram, now at 1030kg, the minimum weight of a Hypercar according to the regulations. Alpine have lost two kilograms, while BMW have gained 5kg, and Aston Martin 8kg in their second WEC race.
Toyota, meanwhile, remain at 1065kg, 1kg more than they raced with at Qatar.
Power (before 250kph)
The big movers here are Alpine, gaining 11kW to take them up to 519kW. BMW have also gained 8kW, while Ferrari and Cadillac both gain 7kW. Aston Martin have alsop gained a single kW to take them up to 504kW from the Cosworth-built V12.
Porsche and Toyota, on the other hand, lose power — 5kW for Porsche, 3kW for Toyota.
Peugeot remain at 520kW — the lightest car with the most power.
Power (after 250kph)
Both Alpine and Peugeot will lose 5.4% of power after they exceed 250kph. Porsche and Toyota will gain 1.2% and 3.6%, and Ferrari will lose 1.8%. You can see the effect of this in the graph above.
Energy per stint
Some big movers in energy per stint, messaged in megajoules (MJ) here. Cadillac will gain 8MJ to use over a single stint, while Peugeot will lose 6MJ.
The top 3 – Ferrari, Porsche, Toyota — sees the Italian manufacturer gain 3MJ, while the latter two lose 5MJ and 2MJ compared to Qatar respectively.
Power-to-weight ratios
Peugeot are on top here, as they've got the lightest, most powerful car. The Alpine has gained a decent amount too, while the Aston loses out to Ferrari.
Toyota, as usual, have the lowest power to weight below 250kph, with Porsche's ratio also low. BMW and Cadillac are very similar.
It's a completely different story post-250kph though. Cadillac go from 0.490kW/kg to 0.500kW/kg, putting them quite substantially ahead of everyone else.
The other seven manufacturers are all fairly evenly matched. While having a lower ratio than in Qatar, Toyota have jumped ahead of BMW to have the second highest ratio after Cadillac in this metric.
Aston, BMW and Ferrari lose out the most when comparing Qatar to Imola, losing 0.006kW/kg. Peugeot are the biggest gainer — they gain 0.004kW/kg race on race, but they also lose out hugely after they hit 250kph, from 505kW/KG to 0.479.
Feature image: DPPI / WEC
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