New Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur has rubbished claims the team has gained 30bhp from its power unit during the off-season.
A development freeze was introduced for F1 power units at the beginning of last seasons. Teams are only allowed to make changes to their engines and hybrid systems in order to address reliability problems.
Ferrari encountered some reliability problems during the 2022 season. Vasseur’s predecessor Mattia Binotto confirmed at the end of last year the team “had to slightly lower the power” as a result.
Italian media reports two weeks ago claimed Ferrari’s reliability fixes will allow them to extract up to 30bhp more from their 066/7 engine. However Vasseur dismissed those claims.
“Regarding the engine, the numbers, I don’t know where the numbers are coming from, but it’s just a joke that we made some step,” said Vasseur. “It’s just about reliability.”
Ferrari lost potential wins due to power unit failures in the Spanish and Azerbaijan grands prix.
“I think the performance last year of the engine was not an issue at all,” Vasseur continued. “The issue was the reliability and the first target is to fix it.
“So far it looks okay but the reality of the track is a different aspect. I think that a couple of issues that the team suffered, and it’s not just true for Ferrari, but in terms of reliability are also coming from the track operation, bouncing and vibration. And I believe we’ll have a much better picture in Bahrain in a bit more than two weeks’ time.”
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2023 F1 season
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