race life for this Scuderia Ferrari’s season.
SKF continues its partnership with Scuderia Ferrari in 2015 to produce bearing sets manufactured from specially developed tool steel. By adapting the heat treatment process, SKF has been able to optimise the surface hardness properties. This makes each bearing extremely resistant to surface fatigue and able to with stand the exceptionally high contact stresses found in Formula One applications. As a result, bearings can be downsized without affecting performance or reliability. The new bearing sets are now being used in the latest Scuderia Ferrari gearbox, where the ability to downsize has helped reduce overall weight by more than 20%. Gearbox performance is improved still further by the use of ceramic bearing rollers and optimised internal geometries. Mattia Binotto,power unit director, Scuderia Ferrari avers, “SKF has played an important role in helping us develop the new 2015 Formula One car. The IMx solution is giving us a fresh insight into how our engines perform, while the new gearbox bearings, along with specialised parts for our energy recovery and other critical on board systems, will be vital in helping us maintain a competitive advantage in the coming races.”