In a recent interview for the BBC, the new Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal Frédéric Vasseur addressed several topics, including one of the most painful of the 2022 Formula 1 championship for the Maranello team, namely reliability. The two power unit technical failures that forced Charles Leclerc to retire while he was in the lead of the race (at the Circuit de Catalunya and at the Baku City Circuit), in addition to the engine issue which occurred on the F1-75 car of Carlos Sainz in the Austrian Grand Prix (while the Spaniard was in second place), are particularly important in view of the next Formula 1 campaign.
“The problem wasn’t the performance.” – Frederic Vasseur said. “The real problem was reliability and our first goal is to improve it” – Given the several technical failures encountered, combined with the need to obtain championship points, from mid-season up to Abu Dhabi, Scuderia Ferrari had to limit the performance of its engine, except perhaps in the home Grand Prix at Monza where the Prancing Horse technicians tried everything to win in front of the Tifosi.
“Everything seems ok for now, but the track is a whole other story” continued the Frenchman. Good results on the dyno don’t always guarantee reliability in the race, where the conditions are almost impossible to replicate. When asked about the new engine’s horsepower gains, which was reportedly a significant gain, Frederic Vasseur dismissed it as ‘nonsense’. “We’ve made some steps forward, but only in terms of reliability,” he concluded.
However, the improvements in this area should not be underestimated. The development free of the engines effectively interrupted the possibility to directly improve the eignes in terms of performance. The only area free from restrictions, which is reliability, can however allow teams to push the power unit to the limit without fearing technical failures, as Ferrari hopes to be able to do in the upcoming Formula 1 championship.
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Even if it is not 30 horsepower, an improvement is still expected from the Maranello team, which, it is hoped, will finally be able to fully use its engine, this time without unpleasant surprises.
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