Ferrari F2002 - Concept and Design

Concept and Design

Prior to the introduction of the F2002, Ferrari had used a revised version of their championship winning Ferrari F2001 for the first few races of 2002.

The F2002 was not only a development of the championship-winning Ferrari F2001, but a completely revolutionary model involving many technologies not seen previously. Since the late 1990s Ferrari had been using the same basic concept and design of gearbox and although this had been used to win drivers and constructors titles from 1999 onwards the technical team pushed ahead with a new version instead. The new replacement gearbox casing was made of ultra lightweight and higher strength titanium, thus reducing its weight by as much as 15% and lowering the car's centre of gravity. The new compact design allowed for great advancement in the bodywork and increasing the car's aerodynamic efficiency at the rear.

However such was the extent of the gearbox casing redesign that the aerodynamic work was left behind schedule and initially did not represent the same performance gains as the mechanical engineering. Thus Ferrari continued its design for another two months and only first used the F2002 at the third round of the 2002 season having been using the previous year's F2001 chassis, albeit with many alterations and the inclusion of the Ferrari 051 2002 engine.

Other advancements on the car include the clutchless direct shift technology within the gearbox, a new fluid traction control system to replace the previous 2001 traction control system, and upright aerodynamically shaped periscopic exhaust outlets at the rear. The latter technology was incorporated both to use the hot exhaust gases for aerodynamic effect and to raise these gases higher and out the way of the rear suspension. On previous occasion Ferrari's non chimneyed top exiting exhaust outlets had caused the rear suspension and other elements at the rear of the car to overheat or even melt when minor cracks occurred.