Leclerc Handed Ten-Place Grid Penalty for Saudi GP

Well, the good news for Ferrari is that they figured out what went wrong with the car in Bahrain when the engine shut down on lap 37 and Charles Leclerc was forced to retire from third place. The bad news is that it was the same component that had been replaced prior to the race, the Electronic Control Unit. Unfortunately only two Electronic Control Units are allowed for the season and in Saudi Arabia, only the second race of the season, Leclerc will already be on his third ECU, thus incurring the ten-place grid penalty.

Last year at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, Leclerc finished second with an extra point for the fastest lap. The Saudi circuit with its long straights is expected to be well suited to the Ferraris this year as it was last year due their straight-line speed, but Leclerc, already 25 points behind in the championship to front-runner Max Verstappen, will have his work cut out for him if he’s going to take the fight to the front of the field. The Aston Martins will no doubt be in the mix with the wily Fernando Alonso looking to score another podium like a starving hound.

Ferrari team principal, Fred Vasseur, said they discovered the ECU issue on Sunday morning when they fired up the car, “On Sunday, we had two different issues. The first one was on the Sunday morning, when we did the fire up, and the second one was the race. Unfortunately, it was two times the control unit, the ECU.” Fortunately for Ferrari, it’s a long season and they will have plenty of opportunities to score points, but they are going to need to get on top of their mechanical issues sooner rather than later.