A report from Italy claims that Ferrari's 2023 car – code-named project 675 – is at least one second faster than its predecessor in the team's simulator in Maranello.
Ferrari held an advantage over Red Bull at the start of last year, but the Milton Keynes-based outfit's overweight RB18 eventually clawed back its deficit and overhauled its rival's F1-75.
The Italian outfit has therefore been working hard in both its engine and chassis department to produce performance gains that will allow it to hit the ground running in Bahrain in March.
And according to Italian website Formu1a.uno, the Scuderia's efforts are bearing fruit, as it reports that its new car is over a second faster than its 2022 predecessor in the simulator.
While Frédéric Vasseur has taken over at the helm of the Scuderia from Mattia Binotto who resigned at the end of last season, Ferrari's technical departments has so far not undergone any changes.
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Enrico Gualtieri remains in charge of engine development, including the design of Ferrari's future power unit that will be produced according to F1's 2023 engine regulations.
But Gualtieri is now assisted by Davide Mazzoni who returned to Ferrari last November after several years with Maserati to deal exclusively with the 2023-spec unit's Internal Combustion Engine.
After last year's spell of reliability issues, Ferrari's efforts have been largely directed at improving durability, with its engineers undertaking long sessions on the test bench at Maranello with results that warrant a "cautious optimism" according to Formu1a.uno.
Ferrari will unveil its 2023 contender on February 14, with 2022 runner-up in the championship Charles Leclerc and teammate Carlos Sainz still leading the charge for the Scuderia.
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