Ferrari’s power unit was arguably the most powerful on the grid in 2022, as the Scuderia blew away their competition on numerous occasions at the start of the season.
Team principal Mattia Binotto, who will be resigning at the end of the year, recently revealed that the team were forced to tone down the power of their engine towards the end of the season, as they believed this was the only way to deal with their reliability issues.
Ferrari struggled with power unit related retirements in 2022, with every team that used a Ferrari engine encountering terminal issues in Baku, with a Haas, Alfa Romeo and both Ferrari’s being forced to retire from the race.
Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has revealed that he has spoken to the departing Binotto about Ferrari’s hopes for next season, and has made a claim that will come as music to the ears of any team using a Ferrari engine.
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“On Thursday I met Mattia Binotto and he told me that next season’s engine will be the bomb,” claimed Steiner in a recent interview.
“In Emilia Romagna, there is a lot of support for Ferrari. And if [the engine] is competitive, it will be positive for us too.”
The gap between Ferrari and Red Bull in the constructors’ championship ended up being 205 points, and with both Ferrari drivers being forced to retire from multiple races due to engine failures, a more impressive and reliable power unit in 2023 could see this gap close significantly.
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Strategy errors also saw the Scuderia lose out on a larger haul of points last season, so the change of management combined with the improved power unit could see Ferrari have a realistic shot at the championship next year.
Steiner was spotted speaking with Binotto alongside Alfa Romeo boss Fred Vasseur in Abu Dhabi, sparking rumours that one of the two would step up to replace the Swiss at Ferrari, however reports have now claimed that the majority of the team’s favoured candidates have rejected the job.
Vasseur is said to have turned down the opportunity to replace Binotto, as have Andreas Seidl of McLaren and Christian Horner of Red Bull, leaving the team scraping the barrel to find a new team principal before preparations for the new season begin over the winter break.