Ferrari is the lastest Formula 1 team to have unveiled a new ventilator to help the COVID-19 patients. The new open-source ventilator is designed by Ferrari and the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa.
Italy has been one of the countries that have suffered hardest by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the new FI5 open-source ventilator is designed to assists the patients at the hospitals.
There have been already two FI5 prototypes produced last week at the IIT facility at Genoa and the first prototype have passed the required tests.
“The challenge of COVID-19 was one we wanted to take on, FI5 is the contribution we made as the Scuderia, fielding the very essence of what makes a Formula 1 team and more importantly, all the characteristics that make Ferrari special; its passion, its creativity and its desire to improve.” Mattia Binotto, Ferrari’s F1 Team Principal, said.
“This project was a very stimulating experience as well as being truly rewarding for all those involved, who worked side by side with our colleagues from IIT and the other partners. It is initiatives like these that make ‘Essere Ferrari’, not just a slogan but a distinctive feature of our identity.”
The world’s motorsport governing body, FIA has also granted teams permission to use their lockdown facilities for work related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The FI5 project has been designed so it is an open-source ventilator so that other engineering companies or institutions from other countries can produce their own variants for free. Ferrari have told that there are many companies from Italy, Mexico and USA that have been in contact to the start the process of producing their own.
The Ferrari company has also helped the community by donating €10 million to the Italian Civil Protection Department.
“The technological transfer of research is one of the central elements of our strategy. There are several projects that are taking shape along these lines.” Giorgio Metta, Scientific Director of the IIT, said.
“However, what we have done with Ferrari goes further than that. It is a project initiated because of an urgent health emergency in our society to which we have responded very quickly thanks to the combination of the Scuderia that is the pride of our nation and famous around the world, and a research centre that is at the forefront of internationally respected scientific institutions.”
“Spurred on by Ferrari’s practice of working at speed, we designed and built the prototype in just five weeks. FI5 is an example of the ingenuity, technology and determination which are an essential part of our procedures. But more than that, it shows that this is a country that works and wins.”
