He may be talking only on Mercedes' F1 engine experience, as at the height of the turbo era in the '80s the engines were producing more power than he claims - certainly in qualifying, possibly in the race.
Mercedes are claiming that they are getting 50% TE for 2016's PU.
The headline, Cowell says, is that the V6 hybrid turbo is now the most powerful F1 engine ever – even greater than the 2005 V10s that revved to 20,000rpm.
Meanwhile the technology has advanced the efficiency of engines to 50 per cent, meaning that 50 per cent of the potential power than can be derived from a unit of petrol is being converted.
And
Combustion is one of the key areas of this technology and one where the largest gains are to be had. The fuel limit for an F1 Grand Prix, which is 100kg, has a potential output of 1240kw of power.
http://www.jamesalle...f1-engine-base/
620kW is 830hp.
IF that is just the crankshaft power, the total including ERS would b 990hp.