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Ferrari Says Last Year’s 25 HP Gap to Mercedes’ and Honda’s F1 Engines is Now Gone

Ferrari are currently the talk of the grid in Formula 1, as rival teams and media analysts alike believe the Italian outfit might have the best car this year, or at least, for the beginning of the year. What’s even more interesting is that Ferrari themselves believe they can challenge Mercedes and Honda properly in terms of power units.
Scuderia Ferrari F1-75 car 7 photos
Photo: Scuderia Ferrari Press Office
Scuderia Ferrari F1-75 carScuderia Ferrari F1-75 carScuderia Ferrari F1-75 carScuderia Ferrari F1-75 carScuderia Ferrari F1-75 carScuderia Ferrari F1-75 car
The Maranello-based squad is optimistic that last year’s 25 hp deficit to Mercedes and Honda is now gone. Not only that, but the Scuderia might actually be ahead on power, which should be a sight to behold once proper racing starts in just a few days' time.

“At the end of last season, we had a gap of 20-25 horsepower, so the first goal was to cancel this margin,” explained team boss Mattia Binotto as reported by Motorsport.

“At the moment we are not yet able to understand what the values on track are, as the measurements that we take using the GPS system have a certain accuracy, but they are not super precise. They are also influenced by the weight of the car, and without this data the estimate is difficult.”

But here’s the best part, as far as we’re concerned: “In the tests, from the little we saw, we conducted an exercise and according to this initial analysis, we are at the level of the others. We are certainly not behind them, and perhaps we have a little more.”

He concluded by saying that it’s definitely too early to rest on any pre-season laurels but that he expects his team to be competitive at the season opener in Bahrain.

“Red Bull seemed very strong to me, certainly Max. So maybe one [Red Bull car] will be in front of us and one behind us,” he added.

The 2022 Formula 1 season kicks off this upcoming weekend, with qualifying on Saturday and the race on Sunday, March 20.
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About the author: Sergiu Tudose
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Sergiu got to experience both American and European car "scenes" at an early age (his father drove a Ford Fiesta XR2 supermini in the 80s). After spending over 15 years at local and international auto publications, he's starting to appreciate comfort behind the wheel more than raw power and acceleration.
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