In a direct injection internal combustion engine with a combustion chamber which is delimited in each cylinder by a longitudinally movable piston and by the inner wall of a cylinder head, an injector injects fuel into the combustion chamber in order to form an ignitable fuel/air mixture with combustion air that is supplied separately, the mixture being ignited by a spark plug. The fuel is injected in a conical shape and the electrodes are protected from being wetted by fuel and from coking if they are located outside the lateral surface of the cone of fuel produced by the injection nozzle. In order to bring an ignitable mixture between the electrodes and to ensure an optimal operating performance of the internal combustion engine by improving the combustion process, the combustion chamber is configured so that the cone of fuel is injected in a free jet that is substantially unaffected by the perimeter of the combustion chamber, and the electrodes of the spark plug project inside a fuel vortex which emerges from the lateral surface during injection.