Motorsports
Ferrari didn’t unleash the full power of its engine in Bahrain
The Scuderia dominated this year’s first Formula 1 race with Charles Leclerc in Bahrain without even bringing the engine to full power – as confirmed by Italian media.
Ferrari race director Matthias Binotto recently confirmed that last year the 25hp Ferrari engine from Mercedes and Honda was gone, but in Bahrain the new F1-75 proved it could now have a performance edge in this area. The “freezing” of engine development started at the end of 2025.
According to Corriere dello Sport, Ferrari has been developing this year’s engine for two years, which was particularly competitive in Bahrain, particularly in terms of acceleration, and has also worked in partnership with Shell to develop new biofuel E10 – consider many to give it an extra power advantage gifts.
The most important element of the article, however, is that Ferrari engineers did not push the engine to full power at the Bahrain GP because they did not want to risk a possible cancellation. Citing Maranello sources, the newspaper reports that the Scuderia will gradually increase engine power in the upcoming GPs and this can only be slightly worrying news for RBR and Mercedes.
At this year’s second Formula 1 race in Saudi Arabia, the Jeddah circuit with its huge straights makes engine power particularly important – but according to the Italian newspaper, the Scuderia will not put its engine on full power there either.
The upgrade is expected to come in the fourth or fifth race of the year, when Ferrari look to fit the cars of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Saint with the second of a total of three engines that will be allowed – without penalty – to be used by any driver during the season. This is because upgrading the engine makes it more reliable and allows it to be tuned to deliver more power.
The excellent performance of Ferrari’s new powerplant was reflected this year in the rapid improvement of the other two teams using it, Haas and Alfa Romeo.
“I think her engine Ferrari is her best now F1 “It’s a recognition for them because they’ve taken a lot of criticism (for lack of performance) and they’ve just taken their lesson and created something very good.” said Guder Steiner, competition director of Haas, who finished 5th from last place with Kevin Magnussen in Bahrain last year.
Sophia Jhon is a sports journalist and author. He has worked as a news editor for Sportish and is now a sport columnist for the same publication. Alberta’s professional interests lie largely in sports news, with an emphasis on English football. He has also written articles on other sporting topics.