Will the evolution of Ferrari's F1 engine benefit Alfa Romeo and Haas?[F1-Gate .com]

Charles Leclerc of Scuderia Ferrari says that the performance of Ferrari and the customer team who entered the top 10 in the qualifying for the 2022 F1 opening round Bahrain Grand Prix shows the evolution of the new F1 engine.

Charles Leclerc will start the 2022 championship by taking pole position in qualifying on Saturday. Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen was 0.123 seconds behind, and teammate Carlos Sainz was 0.006 seconds behind Verstappen.

Meanwhile, Ferrari’s customer teams Alfa Romeo and Haas also made their way into Q3 and surprised the paddock.

Last year, Alfa Romeo made only four C3 advancements, and the Haas F1 Team was never able to break through Q2. However, this year Valtteri Bottas was already 6th and Kevin Magnussen was 7th, already recording one Q3 advance.

It was an encouraging result for Ferrari who brought the new F1 engine to the grid.

“We haven’t seen the qualifying data yet,” said Paul Sitter Charles Leclerc.

“But it definitely feels better than last year and it’s a step in the right direction.”

“I think Haas and Alpha clearly show that we’ve taken a step forward.”

“They were so fast in the corners that I’m not underestimating the work they did. I think it’s a combination of both a car and an engine.”

“But when it comes to ourselves, it’s definitely a step forward, and we now look straight and pretty strong, so it’s good to see this.”

Recently, Scuderia Ferrari team representative Mattia Binotto said he believed that Ferrari’s new PU was able to close the 25-horsepower gap between Mercedes and Honda.

Carlos Sainz says Ferrari “cannot underestimate the progress made on the part of the power unit.”

“I’m really grateful to everyone in the power unit division. I’m sure it’s useful for other teams.”

“Max (Verstappen) and Mercedes weren’t straight and slow, so we need to keep pushing.”

“We need to keep pushing that aspect, but at least this year it looks like we’ve taken a step in the right direction and it’s good to see it from the engine department.”