Fresh estimations have indicated that Ferrari’s power is greater than that of both Mercedes and Red Bull.
This is despite the Ferrari reportedly having been up to 19kph slower than the Honda-powered Red Bull in Saudi Arabia, although the superior estimated pace of Mercedes in the speed rap relative to the Scuderia would indicate that Ferrari’s downforce setup had a massive role to play.
It was said after the Bahrain Grand Prix, which was won by Charles Leclerc as Carlos Sainz sealed the team’s first one-two since 2019, that the Maranello side had more power to them should they choose to deploy it, but a new power unit in the back of both Ferraris in Miami did not stop Max Verstappen from breezing past them on his way to victory.
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The changes the Italian side introduced to their engine were a result of reliability concerns, and FIA head of single seater technical matters Nikolas Tombazis previously affirmed that the reliability exemption was put in place in the interests of fairness.
“When we discussed introducing the freeze, we determined that, if one was in difficulty, everyone would engage in good faith to discuss how to solve the problem, perhaps allowing for some development,” he said.
“There is no interest in sentencing someone to be left behind for four years.
“It’s not ideal to freeze engines for a long time, but we had to do it because it would have been unsustainable for the manufacturers to develop these units and the ones that will be introduced in 2026.”
Tombazis also described the performance of the Ferrari, Honda, Mercedes and Renault engines as “similar,” but new calculations suggest that Ferrari have now surpassed Honda and Mercedes.
A report by Auto Motor und Sport says that Ferrari are now 5.4 horsepower clear of Red Bull’s Honda-manufactured engine, and they have double that advantage over Mercedes
This comes after they were said to be one of the first to manage to overcome the 20-horsepower deficit that arrived with the new E10 fuel blend.
To further help them on the straight, Ferrari will arrive at this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix with a fresh batch of upgrades that includes a new diffuser to help limit “porpoising,” as well as a lighter floor and revised wings.
Team principal Mattia Binotto hopes that this can help them reduce the deficit they have had to Red Bull in recent weeks.
“In the next races it will be at least our turn to try to develop as much as we can the car by introducing upgrades,” he explained.
“I think it’s not a surprise that we may have a package in Barcelona which will be important for us.
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“As usual I hope that the package we are introducing is working as expected in order to try to catch up the current gap we’ve got compared to the Red Bull.”
Ferrari lead the Constructors’ Championship by six points from the Austrian outfit after two wins for Leclerc, while Verstappen’s three victories have been intertwined with reliability failures that have set him and the team back.