Ferrari believe next years power units will play a major role in which team or driver comes out on top come the end of the season.
Ferrari’s Head of engines, Luca Marmorini, cites reliability as the biggest concern, with each driver allowed just five units per season without penalty, compared to eight at present.
“Whoever can handle the engine in a good way and be reliable will have good results,” he said. “But it will be difficult to run the season without issues; we are talking about four to five thousand kilometres per unit which is almost double what we are doing right now.”
If a driver exceeds his five complete units, he will be forced to start from the pits. However as the power unit is made up of different components, a driver may change each of these individually, only when a sixth component is used will a ten-place penalty be applied.
Marmorini also believes the new fuel regulations could damped the racing, with the FIA confirming that teams must start with a maximum 100kg of fuel – which is about 40-50kg less than at present.
“Ferrari feels this could be a danger,” he added. “We like Formula 1 to consider efficiency, but we don’t like Formula 1 to be a sport where you are cruising for 50 percent of the laps.”
