Ferrari to bring ‘significant’ engine upgrade after Monza

Ferrari is set to introduce a “significant” engine upgrade in the second half of the year that is planned for after next month’s Italian Grand Prix.

Teams are permitted under Formula 1’s regulations to one engine upgrade over a season, which Ferrari has yet to exploit during the first 11 races.

It has emerged that while Ferrari designed an all-new power unit for 2021, the Italian outfit been running some elements from last year’s engine.

This means it can introduce those last few elements in its final engine of the campaign, as it looks to overhaul McLaren to third place in the constructors’ standings.

Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto revealed the upgrade won’t be ready before the team’s home race at Monza on September 12.

“We will bring power unit developments,” Binotto said, as quoted by Motorsport.com

“Just to clarify what the regulations are in 2021: you may have a brand new power unit in 2021. It means that you may bring an update in all the components of the power unit, whatever it is ICE, turbo, MGU-H, batteries, MGU-K, etc.

“But what we did at the start of the season, we didn’t complete the entire power unit. So there are still components which are the ones of last year.

“And we will bring an evolution of those ones. So, I think, that will be for us a significant step for the end of the season.”

The decision to unveil its engine upgrade after the Spa/Zandvoort/Monza triple-header spells bad news for Charles Leclerc, who will have to run the current-spec power unit in Belgium following his first-lap crash at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Binotto is braced for Ferrari to struggle when F1 returns after the summer break, revealing over half of its seven-tenth deficit is down to engine power.

“It will be a difficult race for us, because we are seven tenths short of the best and most of these tenths, at least 60 per cent, comes from the engine,” Binotto said.

“We lack this compared to the best and therefore we consider ourselves to be behind Mercedes and Honda to date.

“On a track like Belgium, if you look at our simulations, it’s a track where the engine matters a lot and on a qualifying lap I think the difference will be significant.”