New combustion engine for Ferrari customers and new gearboxes for Mercedes | 2023 Australian GP. New combustion engine for Ferrari customers .

After the complicated start to the 2023 Formula 1 season in Bahrain, which ended with a fourth place and the retirement of Charles Leclerc from the race, Scuderia Ferrari had arrived in Saudi Arabia with the knowledge that the Monegasque would have to serve a ten-place penalty on the starting grid in Jeddah.

However, at the start of the Saudi weekend, the Italian team had chosen to replace further elements not only on the Monegasque’s car, but also that of his Maranelo teammate Carlos Sainz. More specifically, the Italian side had opted for the replacement of the engine on the two SF-23 cars as a precaution, in order to arrive without any worries at the break following the Australian Grand Prix at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne.

In Saudi Arabia, the replacement of the ICE was limited to the official team only, but on the occasion of the Australian Grand Prix it was decided to change the combustion engine also on the single-seaters of the two Prancing Horse customer teams, namely Alfa Romeo and Haas.

For now, together with Lando Norris and Nyck De Vries, who was forced to replace the entire Power Unit due to a problem encountered before the start of the third free practice session in Jeddah, the Ferrari-powered teams have been the only ones to mount the second internal combustion engine.

On the occasion of the Australian GP, all the teams powered by the Mercedes Power Unit also opted to replace the exhaust system, switching to the second ones (third for Norris). The same operation also for Kevin Magnussen, the only Ferrari-powered one.

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On both the official cars of Mercedes, those of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, the gearbox has also been replaced in terms of all components and, also in this case, it is the second one.

No news, however, regarding Max Verstappen after the problems encountered in Saudi Arabia. The Dutchman can still take advantage of the first gearbox that had been set aside at the end of free practice, to then be mounted again on the single-seater in view of the race.