F1 News: Ferrari's plan to make huge improvement by addressing Achilles heel
Ferrari is diverting valuable resources to address one of its biggest vulnerabilities ahead of the 2023 season.
The Italian squad has suffered from persistent operational, reliability and strategic errors, which have proven costly in their overall campaign.
After the first three rounds, Ferrari's chances of contesting for the Championship seemed almost certain, but a series of self-inflicted losses evaporated the Scuderia's prospects.
Perhaps most concerningly for Ferrari, their performance and general competitiveness have steadily declined as the season has progressed.
George Russell's triumph in Brazil for Mercedes is one of many examples where Ferrari has lost ground to its immediate rivals on track.
Mattia Binotto insists that development on the F1-75 has been sacrificed to focus on 2023, but this does not mean the team's recent regression can be overlooked.
Reliability has become an area of increasing concern at Maranello, with engine failures resulting in costly DNFs in Spain, Baku and Austria.
According to the F1 journalist Giuliano Duchessa, these fears have prompted Ferrari to run its power units on a lower power setting to minimise the chances of retirement.
The estimated loss from this reduction in power is 6-7 tenths per lap, an enormous amount for any team - let alone for an outfit which once had title aspirations.
It is difficult to ratify the accuracy of this calculation, but there is no denying that Ferrari has made reliability a priority ahead of next year.
With Formula 1's calendar becoming increasingly prolonged, developing a reliable car is paramount for securing consistent points.
Ferrari appears to have sacrificed its performance to divert its resources towards the 2023 car, which is expected to optimise performance without resulting in reliability issues.
There is no guarantee Ferrari will rectify their issues from this campaign but considering the team's lack of development this year, there will be pressure on the Scuderia to finally deliver next season.