The Maranello-based outfit had worked over the summer on improvements to its powerunit that insiders suggested could deliver a promising step forward in performance.

Ferrari had weighed up introducing the upgrade for last weekend's Belgian Grand Prix, but in the end felt that it was better to wait until its home race at Monza.

That was because the older engines used by Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen had only completed four races up until Belgium – so still easily had capacity to complete another grand prix.

Holding fire for another week also allowed the team to sign off final work on the dyno to ensure that performance was maximised and there were no issues with reliability.

As well as the factory team running the upgrade, it is understood that Haas will also get use of the developments – while Sauber will get it later this season.

The changes mean that Ferrari has become the first F1 manufacturer to use up all of its development tokens this season.

The current spending on tokens is:

Ferrari 32 (0 remaining)

Honda 29 (3 remaining)

Mercedes 26 (6 remaining)

Renault 11 (21 remaining)

Additional reporting by Franco Nugnes