MONTREAL: Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc faces a grid penalty, possibly at Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix, after a failed power unit that ruined his race in Azerbaijan last weekend was declared a write-off. it was done.
Ferrari said the unit was damaged beyond repair and the problem may be linked to an earlier one at the Spanish Grand Prix.
A spokesman said the team is working on “countermeasures” to strengthen the package.
Leclerc has moved from the Formula One championship frontrunner to third overall after three races, 34 points behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen after eight rounds of 22.
Despite starting the last four from pole position, he has retired from two of the last three races with power unit problems.
Monegasque told reporters ahead of practice for the Canadian Grand Prix that no decision had been made on when to take a grid penalty for power unit components exceeding the season’s allocation.
“Obviously we are not in the best situation possible,” he said. “For the power unit change I think there is still discussion going on.
“We will try and move the decision as far as possible, so no decision has been taken yet.”
Leclerc said Canada was not a bad place to take the penalty, noting that overtaking was easy enough, but some other circuits to come could be better.
“We will discuss that and try to take the best decision from there,” he said.
Leclerc has so far used two of its allotted three engines, but its third was on a turbocharger.
Using the fourth turbocharger will trigger an automatic 10-place grid penalty from wherever he qualifies on Saturday. Ferrari can avoid immediate penalties by using salvageable components from previously used power units.
Ferrari sent the failed engine back to its Maranello factory in Baku for evaluation.
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