Formula One: Ferrari all set for engine upgrade in the second half, says Mattia Binotto

Formula One teams are restricted to use one upgrade of each component per year, as per the FIA regulations. However, it has emerged that Scuderia Ferrari has been running a power unit with some 2020 - specification parts in the 2021 season. It still remains unclear, when are where will the new Power Unit be introduced. However, it is being believed by F1 intellectuals that Ferrari would do it at their home race at the Grand Prix in Monza. Both, Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are in their third and final engine for the season and will most certainly face grid penalties for switching to a new power unit. 

Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto, while speaking to Formula one said, “We will bring a power unit development. To clarify the regulations for 2021, you may have a brand new power unit in 2021. It means you can bring an update in all components of the power unit – the ICE, turbo, MGU-H, batteries, MGU-K, etc. What we made at the start of the season, we didn’t complete the entire power unit development so there are still components which are the ones of last year. We will bring an evolution of those ones. That will be for us, a significant step for the end of the season. But more important for us, it will be experience in view of 2022.”

Race win just around the corner as Ferrari look to bounce back strong after the summer break

Ferrari currently stands third on equal points with McLaren in the constructors’ championship 2021 with 12 more Grand Prix still left to happen. Speaking about their championship so far, Binotto added, “Being third is certainly a positive objective. We are third at the moment, equal points but we are third. The team is doing well and we are improving. I think we can achieve it, that’s no question. But it has to be a consequence of us improving in all areas.”

In the drivers’ championship so far, Carlos Sainz finds himself in the 6th position with 83 points, whereas, Charles Leclerc is just one place below Sainz at 7th place with 80 points. Sainz has finished on the podium twice this year. Leclerc, however, has only one podium finish to his name in the British Grand Prix, where he led the race for almost the entirety of it before being passed by Lewis Hamilton. Ferrari’s fight for P3 at the Constructors championship resumes after the summer break with the Belgian Grand Prix at the end of August.

Image: Scuderia Ferrari- Instagram