Karun Chandhok feels Ferrari have made big gains for F1 2022 season

Driver-turned-F1 journalist Karun Chandhok claims Ferrari has made major improvements to their power units for the 2022 season. The analyst claims he spoke to team members before Christmas who expressed their optimism for the upcoming season.

The team from Maranello invested a lot of effort and resources in the 2021 season on their 2022 car in order to hopefully return to championship-winning form. The iconic team last won a constructors' championship in the legendary Michael Schumacher era in 2004. The Italian constructor is trying to make the most of the new regulatory changes on their way back to the top.

Chandhok spoke of their recent improvements, saying:

“I had a couple of conversations with people just before Christmas and they were very optimistic because they feel they made big gains on the power-unit side.”

F1 analyst Ted Kravitz also joined the hype-train, claiming the new engine is likely to be the most aggressive in two or three years. He said:

“I’m hearing a lot of positive noises from the team. The engine’s going well and they say the car is looking much more aggressive than it has in any of the recent Ferraris we’ve seen over the last two or three years.”

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Ferrari has reportedly bridged 20 horsepower gap to Mercedes

Thanks to technology partner Shell, the Prancing Horse has reportedly bridged the 20 horsepower gap their engines had to the Mercedes engines in 2021. The new fuel could give the Italian constructor the edge over competitors in the new season.

In its bid to fight climate change, the FIA has mandated E10 fuel for the 2022 season — a mix of 90% fossil fuels and 10% ethanol. The new fuel is expected to cause a loss of power in the engines. Ferrari have, however, bridged this gap in their engines. Speaking about the loss of power at the Italian Grand Prix in 2021, team principal Mattia Binotto said:

“We confirmed at Monza that Ferrari is missing 20 horsepower from McLaren’s Mercedes engine. We lost most of the time on the last stretch before the Parabolica, with a similar loss on the finish straight. The lack of performance is also noticeable when restarting and overtaking. It was nothing new for us, but we are working at full speed on an evolution of the engine that we want to bring to the track this year as soon as possible.”

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc lost out to McLaren's Lando Norris at Monza due to the loss of power his car faced going through Curva Grande. With 2022 looking like a significant year for Ferrari, the team can be hopeful of not suffering such losses to their rivals.