Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc will start Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix with a 10-place penalty after being forced to change a part on his car that exceeded the season’s quota on Friday.
Source: AFP
Following last week’s engine failure in Azerbaijan, which forced him to retire, Ferrari had to change several parts of Charles Leclerc’s power unit, which was deemed “irreparable”.
This Friday, before the first free practice session, a first set of changes was announced for Leclerc’s car, who occupies third place in the World Championship behind the two Red Bull drivers, the Dutch Max Verstappen and the Mexican Sergio Perez.
These new pieces were within the authorized limits throughout a season but at the end of the day, after Leclerc finished behind Verstappen in the second tests, a note from the FIA indicated a new change from Ferrari, this time related to engine control electronics.
This element is the third of this type used by the team since the beginning of the season, beyond the two allowed.
For this infraction, the regulations provide for a sanction of ten places on the starting grid.
“It is obvious that we are not in the best possible situation”, recognized the Monegasque on Friday morning in relation to the sanction that he was already planning at the time.
“It’s up to us to choose the best circuit” to serve this penalty, Leclerc said, noting that Montreal was an option because of the chances of overtaking.
Leclerc is 34 points behind leader Verstappen going into the ninth race of 22 on the season.
