The Ferrari 246 F1 is a Ferrari racing car built for the Formula One World Championship of 1958.
The Formula One regulations for 1954–1960 limited naturally aspirated engines to 2500 cc and for the 1958 season there was a change from alcohol fuels to avgas. The 246 F1 used a 2417.341NaN1 Dino V6 engine with a 65° angle between the cylinder banks.[1] The power output was 2800NaN0 at 8500 rpm. Bore X Stroke: NaN2NaN2 This was the first use of a V6 engine in a Formula One car, but otherwise the 246 F1 was a conventional front-engine design. The Ferrari 246 F1 was good enough to win a World Championship for Mike Hawthorn and a second place in the Constructors' Championship for Ferrari.[2]
The Ferrari 246 F1 was not only the first V6-engined car to win a Formula One Grand Prix, the French Grand Prix at Reims in 1958, it was also the last front-engined car to win a Formula One Grand Prix. This occurred at the 1960 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, where the major British teams boycotted the race.[3]
In 1960, the Ferrari 246 designation was also used for the first mid-/rear-engined Ferrari, the 246 P Formula One car (using same Dino V6 engine of 2,417.34 cc), and then again in 1966 for Ferrari's first three-litre era Formula One car.
In 1959, to make a full use of the allowed capacity regulations, Ferrari enlarged the bore of the Dino V6 engine of the 246 F1 car by 1 mm to 86 mm. This allowed the total displacement to rise to 2474.54 cc. The resulting power output was now 2950NaN0 at 8600 rpm. The new car also received disc brakes as standard and a five-speed gearbox. Only Tony Brooks raced this model but he was outpaced by the mid-engined British cars. He still won in the French and German Grands Prix.[4]
| ----- bgcolor="#DDDDDD" ! width="22%" | Technical data ! width="26%" | 156 F2 ! width="26%" | 246 F1 ! width="26%" | 256 F1 | ----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE" | Engine: | ----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE" | Cylinder
| 1489 cm3 | 2417 cm3 | 2475 cm3 | ----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE" | Bore x stroke: | 70 x 64.5 mm | 85 x 71 mm | 86 x 71 mm | ----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE" | Compression
| 9.8:1 | 10.0:1 | ----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE" | Max power at rpm: | 180 hp at 9 000 rpm | 280 hp at 8 500 rpm | 295 hp at 8 600 rpm | ----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE" | Valve control: | Dual Overhead Camshafts per cylinder bank | ----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE" | Carburetor
| 3 Weber 38 DCN | 3 Weber 42 DCN | 3 Weber 45 DCN | ----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE" | Gearbox
| 4-speed manual | 5-speed manual | ----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE" | suspension front: | Double wishbones, coil springs, anti-roll bars | ----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE" | suspension rear: | De Dion axle, double longitudinal links, transverse leaf spring | De Dion axle, double longitudinal links, coil springs | ----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE" | Brakes: | Drum brakes | Disc brakes | ----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE" | Chassis & body: | Fackverkframe with aluminum body | ----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE" | Wheelbase
| 216 cm | 222 cm | ----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE" | Dry weight
| 560 kg | ----- bgcolor="#EEEEEE" | Dry speed: | 240 km/h | 280 km/h | ||||||||||||||||||
(key)
| Year | Engine | Tyres | Driver | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Points | WCC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.4 V6 | ARG | MON | NED | 500 | BEL | FRA | GBR | GER | POR | ITA | MOR | 401 (57) | 2nd | |||
 Peter Collins | 3 | Ret | Ret | 5 | 1 | Ret | ||||||||||
 Olivier Gendebien | Ret | Ret | ||||||||||||||
| Mike Hawthorn | 3 | 5 | 2 | |||||||||||||
 Luigi Musso | 2 | 7 | Ret | Ret | ||||||||||||
 Wolfgang von Trips | 3 | Ret | 4 | 5 | Ret | |||||||||||
 Phil Hill | DNA | 3 | ||||||||||||||
| 2.4 V6 | MON | 500 | NED | FRA | GBR | GER | POR | ITA | USA | 32 (38) | 2nd | |||||
| Cliff Allison | 9 | Ret | 5 | Ret | ||||||||||||
 Jean Behra | Ret | |||||||||||||||
| Tony Brooks | 2 | Ret | 9 | Ret | 3 | |||||||||||
| Olivier Gendebien | 4 | |||||||||||||||
| Dan Gurney | Ret | 2 | 3 | 4 | ||||||||||||
| Phil Hill | 4 | 6 | 2 | 3 | Ret | Ret | ||||||||||
| Wolfgang von Trips | 6 | |||||||||||||||
| 2.4 V6 | ARG | MON | 500 | NED | BEL | FRA | GBR | POR | ITA | USA | 26 (27) | 3rd | ||||
| Cliff Allison | 2 | DNQ | ||||||||||||||
| Richie Ginther | 6 | 2 | ||||||||||||||
| 10 | ||||||||||||||||
| Phil Hill | 8 | 3 | Ret | 12 | 7 | Ret | ||||||||||
| Willy Mairesse | Ret | Ret | 3 | |||||||||||||
| Wolfgang von Trips | 5 | 8 | 5 | Ret | 11 | 6 | 4 | |||||||||