Ferrari tells Haas: 'Next year's engine is a bomb!'

Haas team boss Guenther Steiner learned from the prancing horse's mouth that next year's Ferrari power unit "will be a bomb".

Ferrari's engineers worked tirelessly last year to develop a brand-new engine for 2022 that would deliver significant gains, and the unit did indeed prove to be a massive step forward compared to its predecessor.

However, despite the new engine's clear boost in performance, the unit was frail at times last summer, to the point where Ferrari was forced to dial down the power to avoid terminal issues.

But more work and improved reliability in the final races of the season allowed the Scuderia to run its engine at full power, and that undeniably should bode well for Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz next season as well as for Ferrari's engine customers, Haas and Alfa Romeo.

"On Thursday I met Mattia Binotto and he told me that next season's engine will be the bomb," Steiner said as he attended in Faenza on Sunday the Trofeo Lorenzo Bandini award honouring Kevin Magnussen, the recipient of the prestigious accolade.

"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."

Haas kicked off its 2022 campaign with Magnussen's remarkable fifth-place finish in Bahrain, but good results were hard to come by for the US outfit in the second half of the season, save for Magnussen incredible pole at Interlagos in Brazil.

Yet Steiner is pleased overall with his team's progress in 2022 which eh has called "a year of growth".

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"We’ve had two difficult years with the pandemic; the championship that just ended went well, but it could also have gone better," he explained.

"We consider it a year of growth. Magnussen gave us a pole position that wasn’t in the plans and in 2023 we want to grow further.

"The goal is to make another step forward in the standings, to always fight for points and one day get on the podium."

Steiner cast a positive outlook on 2023, thanks to Haas's advances and to a vastly experienced new driver line-up that will include incumbent Magnussen and his fellow F1 returnee Nico Hulkenberg.

"We've had two difficult years with the pandemic," Steiner said. "The championship that just ended went well, but it could also have gone better.

"We consider it a year of growth: Magnussen gave us a pole position that wasn't in the plans and in 2023 we want to grow further.

"The goal is to make another step forward in the standings, to always fight for points and one day get on the podium".

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