Ferrari won’t be putting its retired 2014, 2015, and 2016 Formula 1 cars up for sale to private buyers owing to the high costs involved in running the complex hybrid drivetrains of these latest cars.
Formula 1 introduced new advanced hybrid engines in 2014, switching from using naturally aspirated 2.4-litre V8 engines to turbocharged 1.6-litre V6 engines with accompanying hybrid electric motors. Speaking to our sister publication Autocar UK at the preview event of Ferrari World Barcelona, F1 test driver Marc Gené said these new hybrid drivetrains weren't financially viable to keep running.
“They are just too difficult to maintain,” he said. “Just to fly them over, the battery needs some extra safety requirements for the plane. To run, the current engines are very advanced but so expensive.”
Conversely, the 2013 cars, which are currently on sale, use the older V8 engines with smaller electric motor units, while earlier powertrains from the pre-hybrid era used just V8 or V10 engines. Those cars were comparably simple to run, meaning Ferrari could sell them to customers and run them for a profit.
“At the moment we are selling the 2013 car, but it could well be that those are the last Ferrari [F1] cars to be sold,” continued Gené. “That’s why the Formula 1 price is going up, because the market is what it is.”
Ferrari sells its cars via its Corse Clienti programme and offers owners hospitality at circuits for driving days with a full team of mechanics to run their machines.