Charles Leclerc will take a 10-place grid drop at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this weekend as a result of Ferrari adding a third control electronics element to the Monegasque’s pool of hardware.
Leclerc suffered engine issues in the opening round of F1’s 2023 season I n Bahrain, with the Scuderia forced to twice replace the CE on its driver’s power unit.
However, more gremlins crept in on race day, with Leclerc retiring from third after 39 laps. The setback was unusual for the Italian outfit that worked hard over the winter to improve the performance and the reliability of its unit.
Unfortunately, each driver is limited to just two CE elements for the entire season, which inevitably implies a grid penalty for Leclerc next weekend.
“It is something we have never experienced in the past and I hope now it is under control,” team boss Frederic Vasseur said, as quoted by BBC Sport.
“But unfortunately we will have to take the penalty in Jeddah because we only have a pool of two ECUs for the season.”
Leclerc’s engine issue wasn’t Ferrari’s only source of concern in Bahrain.
The Monegasque and teammate Carlos Sainz were comprehensively outpaced on race day by Red Bull, but the Spaniard who finished fourth at Sakhir was also outperformed by Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso who has emerged as a top field contender in F1.
“Bahrain was not as good as expected, and we have to react,” Vasseur added. “Everybody is working at their best to fix the issues.
“We have to keep the eyes open that we had issues in Bahrain in terms of reliability and we need to fix the issue of drivability.
“I am not negative at all. We had a clear analysis of what we did in Bahrain, we have a long list of what we need to improve and we are on it and I hope in Jeddah already we will be able to [make a step forward].”
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