Extent of Leclerc’s Engine Woes Revealed Amid Ferrari Disaster
The Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix was the scene of disaster for Ferrari, with engine problems significantly hampering Charles Leclerc’s performance. After a disastrous qualifying session where both Ferrari cars were eliminated in Q2, Leclerc ran into problems right at the start of the race in Montreal.
During the opening laps of the race, which were characterized by unfavorable weather conditions, Leclerc reported problems with his engine. He found himself losing over a second in the straight compared to his rivals, as well as being forced to make up to ten engine key changes per lap. “I lost 1.2 seconds at the line, which was extremely annoying,” Leclerc told Sky Sports. “And on top of that, I had to make about 10 changes a lap on the engine switches, which was a very frustrating race because you’re passing everyone on the straight. In the corners, we were fast, and actually, I think the pace was pretty strong at the start, considering the loss of 1.2 seconds, but with the engine problem, we couldn’t have done better.
Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur confirmed that Leclerc lost “about 80 horsepower for about 15 laps” due to the problem. “We had an engine problem that made us lose about 80 horsepower for about 15 laps,” explains Vasseur. “We waited for a red flag so we could do a reset and restart. There was no red flag, so we had to stop, which cost us a lap and was effectively the end of Charles’ race after he was overtaken.”
In addition to the problems facing Leclerc, Carlos Sainz was also unable to finish the race after an incident with Williams’ Alex Albon, further compounding an already difficult weekend for Ferrari. The Italian team lost ground significantly to Red Bull in both world championships.
Vasseur reflected on the disastrous weekend: “It was not a good weekend from the beginning,” he said. “Hopefully this means that we had all the problems in a Grand Prix and that we will come back to Spain in better shape. We will analyze it and see what we could have done differently. We didn’t expect this weekend to be so difficult. especially because our long distance pace was good on Friday. It’s a long season, so we’re going to have ups and downs, but I hope we don’t have too many ‘downs’ like this.”
With one more season to go, Ferrari must learn from its mistakes and look for recovery in the upcoming races to stay competitive in the championship race.
