Ferrari in talks with new turbo supplier

Scuderia Ferrari is already hard at work at resolving its engine problems to prepare in the best possible way for the 2015 campaign. Until then though, no real performance updates can be added on the power unit.

Italian magazine Autosprint has reported that the team has begun talks to change turbo suppliers after finding out that the turbo of the current power unit, supplied by Honeywell, is one of the main problems for the car's lack of performance.

"Ferrari has its historical partners," wrote correspondent Alberto Antonini, "but something has to change."

Since the very beginning of the season, both Renault and Ferrari have faced stiff competition from Mercedes who appear to have done the better job on their power unit. Our analysis from the Austrian GP also showed that Renault and Ferrari appear to be fairly evenly matched in terms of outright power.

The regulations as they are now however are causing increased frustration among teams and suppliers as they are aware nothing much can be done about Mercedes' advantage. During the season, all power unit upgrades have to be given approval by the FIA and are only allowed when targeting an improvement in reliability. The problem here is obviously that Ferrari in particular are no really suffering any hardware reliability issues, requiring them to live with the current power deficit.

Two weeks ago this has notably led to Luca Di Montezemolo's call for a meeting about the future of F1 following repeated public outbursts of his frustration with the engine freeze regulations.