F1: Carlos Sainz Jr To Get Upgraded Ferrari Engine In Turkey, Set For Grid Penalty

Carlos Sainz Jr may have had his best weekend with Ferrari at the Russian GP but he is in for a bit of pain at the Turkish GP where he is set for an engine replacement grid penalty. Ferrari will equip Sainz with its new upgraded engine which was deployed on Charles Leclerc's car in Russia. This means even though he will have a better power unit and will not be sitting duck on the straights like he was in Russia, he will have to start from the back of the grid. Ferrari before Russia had a power deficit of around 20 bhp to cars equipped with Honda or Mercedes power units. The upgraded hybrid unit has reportedly given Ferrari a boost of somewhere between 10 to 15 bhp and massively closed the gap to the competition. This was witnessed by the speed Leclerc had in Sochi for his race to be only ruined by the rain when he didn't pit for intermediate tyres on time.

Sainz leads Charles Leclerc in the championship currently

Ferrari is 18.5 points behind McLaren for P3 in the constructors but now that both of its drivers have a new engine they will be better able to compete against McLaren for the P3 spot. The update to the engine is part of a broader engine development plan Ferrari is undergoing for the 2022 season after which there is an engine development freeze till 2026. Ferrari plans on having the leading engine in F1 in the 2022 season and it has successfully tested new hybrid technology that has helped boost the power unit of the SF21.

In 2019, Ferrari had the best power unit but fuel flow regulations were reportedly being flouted and technical regulations issued by the FIA crippled its engine. Its car concept for 2020 was hindered and it couldn't develop around the issue thanks to the development freeze thanks to the pandemic. In 2021, it introduced an interim fix to the problem while it underwent restructuring internally and redeveloped its engine technology.