Ferrari boss, Frederic Vasseur has dismissed claims that the Maranello outfit's 2023 power unit is 30bhp more powerful than its predecessor.

With the current engine freeze, manufacturers are only allowed to make changes relating to reliability, safety and cost saving, though some minor changes are permitted, such as to allow the power unit to be installed correctly. However, improvements cannot be made to the performance of the engine.

Nonetheless, a number of Italian media outlets have claimed that Ferrari is a second quicker than its predecessor having gained 30bhp.

When this was put to Vasseur last week, the Frenchman laughed.

"I don't know where the numbers are coming from," he said, "but it is just a joke!

"We made some steps," he continued, "but it is just about reliability, the performance of the engine was not an issue at all. The issue was the reliability, and the first target is to fix it. So far it looks okay, but the reality on the track is a different aspect.

"There are a couple of issues that the team suffered," admitted. "It is not just true for Ferrari, but in terms of reliability it is also coming from the track operation, bouncing and vibration.

"I think and I hope that it's under control today, that they did what looks to be a good job over the last couple of months. Everybody will have a much better picture in Bahrain."

The Italian team's 2022 season got off to the perfect start, Charles Leclerc winning two of the opening three races, but then things began to fall apart - in some cases literally - as the Maranello outfit suffered a string of reliability issues, poor strategic calls and driver errors.

Though the team was abler to hold off Mercedes for second in the standings, Mattia Binotto resigned and his replacement is adamant that lessons have been learned.

"Development is very often a strategic choice," he said. "Now with the cost cap, we have to decide if you want to be more focused on the car for the year after or the current one

"I was not there last year and I don't want to make any judgement on what's happened in the past, but we'll see during the season.

"We have had discussions on how we can improve the system, what would be the weakness of the system and to try to do a better job," he added. "But it is more continuous improvement rather than a big step or big changes, which from my point of view wouldn't make sense."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Spindoctor, 05/02/2023 14:32

"Cynics have suggested that Ferrari's PU last year was pushing the limits of reliability to gain performance. This year they are will be allowed to improve reliability, presumably keeping the performance gains from last season... Not sure if that works within the rules, but..."

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2. Posted by alvarezh3, 31/01/2023 15:45

"@ Dirt

No doubt in my mind that you could have a valid point, but I think it should be verified by the FIA. If it turns out to be as you describe it, then it's all good! ;-)"

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3. Posted by Simon in Adelaide, 31/01/2023 8:24

"Is it just me? If you squint does Fred look like Ron?"

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4. Posted by Dirt, 31/01/2023 0:13

"It would be interesting to know if Ferrari prioritized outright performance over reliability on their current engine, knowing that they might have to turn it down to gain reliability, but that they could then work on reliability and then turn the engine back up. Perhaps this is where the extra horsepower is coming from. It's not an outright improvement to performance, it's just being able to turn the engine back up because it has been made more reliable."

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5. Posted by alvarezh3, 30/01/2023 18:34

"If they gained performance (amount irrelevant) they would of not disclose it, it would be a breach of the regulations. Hence, we would not know the truth. To come out and call the HP gain a "joke" could be a way to try to avoid an investigation into a real breach of the regulation.

In any case, the FIA should (as the oficial policing institution) find out what the truth is.

Wake up Toto! You are not going to complain and try to force the FIA to do their job? :-)"

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Engine gain claims a joke, says Vasseur

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