Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz appear to be getting an early Christmas present from Ferrari, following a report by Soymotor.com that the Scuderia duo will have a more powerful engine in 2023.
According to the report, the Maranello-based outfit are set to have an engine next season capable of producing an extra 30hp, something that will likely result in the Italians having a rocket ship down the straight.
Whilst improving engine performance has been banned until 2025, teams are allowed to improve the reliability of their power units, something that Ferrari have done over the winter.
By improving the reliability of their power unit, the team will have an extra 30hp to play with, as long as it doesn’t go bang once again!
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Leclerc and Sainz suffered from miserable power unit reliability in 2022, with the duo having served several grid penalties during the season for exceeding their legal number of engine components.
It became evident very early on in the year that Ferrari opted for performance over reliability from their power unit, with it having failed at several venues during the season.
Leclerc incredibly lost two potential victories following engine failures, with the first having occurred at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Had his engine made it to the end, then the Monegasque would’ve almost certainly won, with him having had superior pace over Red Bull.
The 25-year-old’s engine failed again during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which once again, he was leading.
On that occasion he was actually due to make a pit-stop, meaning that his engine failure cost him a podium rather than a victory.
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Sainz’s engine also failed in remarkable fashion during the Austrian Grand Prix, to the point where you could see part of the engine cover explode as a result of the fire underneath his F1-75.
To avoid further failures in the latter part of the 2022 season, Ferrari turned their engines down, with the side not being in a position where they could afford anymore grid penalties.
If Ferrari have improved their engine reliability then this will likely fill Leclerc and Sainz with confidence, that they can push their 2023 challenger hard for the entirety of a race.