Charles Leclerc was extremely focused on keeping his Red Bull rival Max Verstappen at bay to secure his third win of the season in Barcelona. The Monegasque driver started at the pole position on Sunday and took the lead instantly. The 24-year-old was leading the race comfortably before a power unit failure caused Leclerc’s F1-75 retirement on lap 27. With this, the Ferrari driver failed to finish the race and did not take any points from the Spanish GP. As a result, Verstappen took a six-point lead over Leclerc in the driver’s championship while Red Bull got on top of the constructors’ standings, replacing Ferrari.
On Sunday night, the Scuderia refrained from giving immediate answers about their power unit. The racing team shipped the broken power unit overnight for a proper analysis in its Maranello factory. The engineers worked to disassemble the components of the power unit on Monday to get to the bottom of the failure. Recently, Ferrari stated that the examination of the Power unit of Leclerc’s car revealed that the turbo and the MGU-H were damaged beyond repairable damage. Thus, Charles Leclerc would be forced to replace these components for the upcoming race in Monaco.
The Italian racing team further analyzed the failure and found the cause of the issue. They were satisfied that the failure did not occur due to the car’s design. Hence, the PU failure is not concerned with the car’s reliability. Moreover, Ferrari ruled that the PU failure might have been caused due to external conditions or the way they were being handled.
Will Charles Leclerc Get A New Power Unit In Monaco?
Leclerc used his second power unit of the season in Spain. Hence, Ferrari will have to decide between going back to the old power unit’s components or choosing a fresh one.
Unfortunately, F1 regulations limit the drivers from using more than three MGU-H and turbos per season. Therefore, losing these components early could cause Ferrari to drop down on the grid if the Monacan driver opts for a fourth set later in the season. Moreover, the racing team explained that Leclerc’s F1-75 power unit issue came up without any prior warning. The Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said that the issue was sudden. Charles found out about it first and shared it on the radio before the engineers took a look at the data. Binotto added, “So it was really sudden.”
Ferrari’s failure in Barcelona has caused a major shift in the drivers’ and constructors’ championships. Leclerc lost his top position in the championship while Red Bull replaced Ferrari at the constructors’ table. Charles Leclerc was frustrated about his retirement in Spain, allowing Verstappen to win the season’s fourth race. The 24-year-old said that it was a shame. However, he accepted that there was nothing he could do other. Charles planned on looking at the positives and focusing on upcoming weekends. He further stated that Ferrari would look into the issue. And the team cannot afford for such failures to keep happening many times in the season.