Ferrari power unit will reportedly have ‘extra 30hp’ for the 2023 Formula 1 campaign
- Rob Fleming
- 23 December 2022
Ferrari will reportedly be able to extract 30 horsepower extra from their power unit as they take another shot at title glory in the 2023 Formula 1 season.
The 2022 campaign did not exactly go to plan for Ferrari. Initially it was doing, as they began the season with an F1-75 clearly capable of championship success, but things would soon unravel.
As Ferrari shot themselves in the foot with strategy and reliability issues, plus some rather costly driver errors, like Charles Leclerc crashing out of the lead in France, Red Bull took it all in their stride as they turned the campaign into a one-horse race.
But, as per a report from Soymotor.com, Ferrari will come into the 2023 campaign with a considerably more powerful engine.
The regulations have frozen engine performance until the end of 2025, after which the new generation of power units will come into play, but fixes for reliability and cost reasons are still permitted.
And this is reportedly how Ferrari will be able to get as much as 30hp more out of their PU. Since the Scuderia were forced to dial down on the power during 2022 at times due to fears that the power unit would let go, improving reliability will mean a greater power reserve to unleash.
Now Ferrari need the challenger to match the engine
While Ferrari started out with seemingly the fastest car on the grid, as the 2022 season marched on after the halfway point, it became increasingly apparent that the Red Bull RB18 was superior, especially over a race distance.
While the RB18 became faster and kinder on its tyres as weight was shed, the F1-75 developed a habit for being rather draggy and burning through its tyres in race trim, allowing Red Bull to streak away. The final tally saw Red Bull win 17 of the 22 grands prix in 2022, Verstappen claiming a record 15 of those.
It is in race situations then where Ferrari would feel the benefit of running their power unit in a higher mode for longer, but to make maximum use of this, Ferrari's 2023 challenger needs to be more effective in a straight line and at keeping its tyres healthy.
Mattia Binotto was formerly at the head of Ferrari's engine division before he rose to team principal status, so following his departure, we will now see what impact, if any, this has had at Maranello.
