Lewis Hamilton reveals the Ferrari engine can cost the team over half-a-second per lap ahead of the Bahrain GP in Malaysia, as he explains exactly how far slow the power unit is compared to Mercedes.
February 2024 proved to be one of the biggest moments in Formula 1 history as Hamilton dramatically quit the Silver Arrows to join the Scuderia, ending their historic partnership that saw the Brit win six world titles.
It was a moment that sparked dreams of a record-breaking eighth world title considering Ferrari had finished just one win away from winning the constructors’ championship.
Now 32 months later, the 41-year-old is still chasing that dream of moving clear of Michael Schumacher and may be wishing he remained at Brackley, where his replacement Kimi Antonelli is now the champion-elect.
The Mercedes power unit has emerged as the clear package to beat with their impressive MGU-K (Kinetic) electrical battery eclipsing their competitors, Ferrari, Red Bull-Ford, Honda and Audi.
The team have won 11 of 15 races and their pace was best demonstrated at the Italian GP where the 20-year-old Antonelli won from 19th on the grid and at the Azerbaijan GP, where George Russell took pole by eight tenths of a second.
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The performance has been reminiscent of Hamilton’s run from 2014-2016 in particular, with Ferrari seldom able to challenge his former team due to their own weaker power unit.
Compromised by rules changes at the start of the campaign by the FIA on safety grounds, the Italian team have struggled for horsepower compared to Mercedes, and Hamilton reveals exactly how slow the Ferrari engine is.
“The deficit we have is simply just on the engine,” Hamilton said. “And that’s something we don’t shy away from. We know that every weekend we carry a 0.4-second deficit, if not sometimes 0.6 seconds, just in straight-line power, and we’re aware of it.
“For me it’s frustrating to see all the negativity because you see other people making mistakes and no one really says too much about them.
“We either make the same mistake or are not perfect, we know we’re not, and it’s 10 times worse for some reason for Ferrari.
“But that’s also to be expected, given that it’s the best brand here, the most iconic by far.”
Ferrari plan engine change for 2027 F1 season
Ferrari had entered the new Formula 1 regulations with one ace in the hole in the form of its race starts, intentionally designing a smaller turbocharger to work around the problem of turbo lag.
Turbo lag is caused due to the removal of the MGU-H (Heat) meaning there are fewer exhaust gases to keep the turbocharger spinning before the lights go out from a standing start.
After warning their rivals and proposing a change that was rejected prior to the season, Ferrari appeared to have found a way around much of that problem to produce exceptionally strong launches.
The advantage was most visible during the first few hundred feet of launches, and at preseason testing in Bahrain, Ferrari passed Mercedes into Turn 1 – despite starting from the equivalent of eighth on the grid with the latter on pole.
If the Maranello could close the lap time gap to Mercedes then it was a potentially championship-winning advantage, but it did not last long as after the opening races, the FIA introduced a new system.
As some cars struggled to accelerate cleanly from the grid, the race starts created situations in which following drivers could rapidly close in and threatened serious crashes.
The intervention changed the competitive picture for Ferrari, leaving them without their launch advantage whilst simultaneously leaving them down on power. Since the Miami GP, they have been paying a price for their own understanding of the regulations.
Now preparing for the 2027 F1 season, Ferrari is planning a new power unit and one that will likely see an expanded turbocharger in a bid to recover some of the horsepower they have lost for no long-term gain.
