F1: Ferrari under pressure for 2023 after rival team boss' 'bomb' claim

The 2023 Formula 1 season is months away, but Ferrari have already been put under pressure by Haas F1 team principal Guenther Steiner. The Italian-American team boss has revealed a private chat with outgoing Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto about the Maranello team's 2023 power unit.

Ferrari's 2022 power unit was a huge step up compared to their engines in 2020 and 2021. After being the slowest among the four manufactures in 2020, they made a small step forward in 2021, before getting up to par with the class leading Red Bull Racing Honda powertrain in 2022.

Binotto, Ferrari's departing team principal, was happy with his team's progress in 2022. But, the rapid progress on power compromised the engine's reliability. Both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz fell victim to power unit failures on more than one occasion.

The Italian admitted that Ferrari's reliability concerns saw the team wind down the power for the second-half of the 2022 campaign. However, the team found a fix for their reliability issues, with Motorsport reporting that Ferrari were able be more aggressive on their engine for the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

The news will come as a big boost for Ferrari drivers Leclerc and Sainz, who were unable to compete with the Red Bull cars in the second-half of 2022. Steiner has now confirmed reports of a fix by stating that Binotto called the 2023 power unit "the bomb."

"On Thursday I met Mattia Binotto and he told me that next season's engine will be the bomb," Steiner said during his appearance at the Lorenzo Bandini Trophy Awards ceremony in Faenza, as quoted on Motosport.com.

"In Emilia Romagna, there is a lot of support for Ferrari. And if it [the engine] is competitive, it will be positive for us too."

Steiner's revelation is certain to ramp up the pressure on Ferrari going into the 2023 season. After a failed title challenge in 2022, Binotto's replacement will be expected to carry on the progress and make the next step to become genuine title contenders.

Red Bull Racing will be the favourites to again lead the title charge next season. However, Mercedes, who started the 2022 season on the back foot, showed by the end of the campaign that they had closed the gap to the frontrunners, and will be expected to challenge for wins in 2023.