Charles Leclerc faces additional title blow with Saudi Arabian Grand Prix grid penalty

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc faces a 10-place grid penalty forward of this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

It comes after Leclerc was pressured to retire from the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix as a result of an engine concern, in what was an early blow to his hopes of difficult Max Verstappen for the F1 title.

Frederic Vasseur, the brand new Ferrari crew principal, mentioned following the race that he was stunned by the retirement however an extra investigation has recognized the issue.

Ferrari mentioned they’ve been pressured to suit one other management electronics energy unit on Leclerc’s automotive forward of the second race of the season, having already changed components in Bahrain.

Groups are solely allowed to make use of two management electronics parts per season till a penalty is triggered, which has given Leclerc an uphill battle as he appears to be like to chop Verstappen’s early lead within the standings.

“On Sunday, we had two totally different points,” Vasseur mentioned on Wednesday. “The primary one was on the Sunday morning, once we did the fireplace up, and the second was within the race. Sadly, it was two occasions the management unit, the ECU.

“It’s one thing that we by no means skilled up to now. I hope now it’s beneath management, however now we have a deep evaluation on this. Sadly, we’ll must take the penalty in Jeddah, as a result of now we have solely a pool of two management models for the season.”

Leclerc could also be pressured to take an extra grid drop if Ferrari have taken additional substitute components.