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Renault technical director Nick Chester has admitted surprise over the improvements Ferrari has made in its power unit. At the start of the hybrid era, the Mercedes engine was clearly the quickest and most reliable, with Ferrari and Renault left chasing.
However, after improving its power output in 2017, Ferrari has turned up in 2018 with what appears to be the fastest engine in the field. Toto Wolff claimed that Mercedes was losing half a second on the straights in Germany two weeks ago.
And Chester says that Ferrari simply seem to have done a good job on its engine, rather than gain time by developing its blown rear wing: "They've got a strong engine anyway, but it's really quite strong now," he told Crash.net. "The performance is right up there.
"Not that we're aware of," Chester said when asked if he thought Ferrari's speed had something to do with the blown rear wing. "But it's always hard to know what another team is doing. It just seems to be more power unit output. Their straight line speeds are very strong while running a sensible rear wing on the car. So they do seem to just have good power."
Renault will be supplying just two teams next year (Renault and McLaren) as it will divorce Red Bull at the end of the season, while Ferrari will continue to supply Haas and Sauber with power units. Ferrari is also expected to bring more engine upgrades to the Belgian Grand Prix later this month.
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
M. Verstappen
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Replies (2)
Login to replyajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
I wonder how much Ferrari spent this year to get that PU were it is. The rate of development has been impressive. Also, there will be few places to hide for Sebastián if he doesn't deliver a championship this year clearly having the best car and with Raikkonen actually performing like a respectable #2. Don't expect the Italian press to forgive Sebastián if they miss out because of his many errors this year.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Surprisingly, before the start of the season Ferrari spent slightly less cash than Mercedes, if memory serves me.