Ferrari rekindle 2023 F1 title hopes with a 30hp more powerful engine

Ferrari are expected to resolve their power unit's reliability issues next season and have around 30hp more available, as per a recent report from Soymotor.

Ferrari had a pretty impressive power unit at the start of the season but were plagued by reliability issues. These issues meant that the power unit had to be run at a lower power level in 2022 to prevent continuous failure.

The Italian team is expected to have these issues fixed for next season. According to Soymotor's report, there will be as much as 30hp more available for use. The report states:

"In Ferrari, they estimate that they will be able to 'win up to 30 horses'. Put like that, it sounds like a brutal max power increase. But you have to explain it. It is not about the engine giving 30 more horsepower, but that 30 more horsepower can be used than now. Peak power doesn't improve, but performance does."

The report further read:

"You can use more power and for a longer time. The 'power usage curve' goes up at all levels and the actual usable maximum approaches the 'theoretical' maximum of the engine."

It further claimed that Ferrari can now use around 845 horsepower in an 850 hp engine:

"In short, if the heat engine was around 850 horsepower and was limited to 820 so as not to break, now we can take advantage of perhaps 845, by being able to approach the maximum speed. And if these 820 could be used for 30 minutes to avoid breakage due to continuous stress, now perhaps 840 horsepower for 45 or 50 minutes."

One of Ferrari's biggest issues during the 2022 F1 season was their inability to stay competitive during the race, just like it was in qualifying. More power at their disposal will surely help the team.

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Can Ferrari challenge for the title with better power accessibility?

This is one of the key questions that should be asked because according to the team, the power unit failures paralyzed the campaign immensely.

Having said that, they were not only hampered on the power unit front. One of the bigger issues that needs to be resolved is the team's ability to execute a race better.

One of the biggest question marks over the team were the incessant strategic blunders during the race that worked against them. They need to keep those in check and give their drivers the opportunity to attack without worrying about the logistics at the backend. If they can do this, then a title challenge is all the more likely.