Ferrari 643


The Ferrari 643 was a Formula One car designed by Steve Nichols and Jean-Claude Migeot and was built by Scuderia Ferrari for use in the 1991 Formula One season. Introduced at the French Grand Prix after being developed in May, the car initially demonstrated strong potential to compete at the front of the grid. Alain Prost qualified on the front row and briefly led the race before being overtaken by Nigel Mansell in the Renault-powered Williams FW14. Nevertheless, a second-place finish in its debut outing was regarded as an encouraging start. Ultimately, the car would help the team finish third in the 1991 Constructors' Championship.

Design

The chassis of the 643 was a total redesign over the 642 which suffered inconsistent handling issues and was designed to allow for softer suspension travel, as per Prost's request. The V12 engine was upgraded six major times during 1991, with the final evolution used from Portugal to the end of the season. The chassis itself had two revisions, the first after the French Grand Prix—which saw a relocation of the exhaust exits from underneath the car, and Belgium which saw minor alterations to the body cover.

Season overview

The car was not as competitive a car like the Williams FW14 and McLaren MP4/6 cars; a big problem with the car lay with a lack of correct data gathering due to the team's turbulent management structure at the time. The car's results was one of the main reasons for the falling out between Prost and Ferrari, with the Frenchman eventually saying that "a truck would be easier to drive than this car". Following the Japanese Grand Prix, Prost was fired for the second time in his F1 career by a works team. The team replaced him in Australia with test driver Gianni Morbidelli.
The car scored 39.5 points of the team's 55.5 points in 1991 with 8 podiums and finished third in the Constructors' Championship.

Later use

The 643 was tested in early 1992 by Ivan Capelli before being replaced at the start of the season by the Ferrari F92A.

Performance

in the 1/1992 Sport Auto they found the Ferrari 643 had a performance of:

Complete results

YearTeamEngineTyresDrivers12345678910111213141516Pts.WCC
Scuderia Ferrari SpAFerrari Tipo 291
V12		USABRASMRMONCANMEXFRAGBRGERHUNBELITAPORESPJPNAUS55.5*3rd
Scuderia Ferrari SpAFerrari Tipo 291
V12		Alain Prost23RetRetRet3Ret2455.5*3rd
Scuderia Ferrari SpAFerrari Tipo 291
V12		Jean Alesi4Ret35RetRet34RetRet55.5*3rd
Scuderia Ferrari SpAFerrari Tipo 291
V12		Gianni Morbidelli655.5*3rd