After much speculation, it has been confirmed that Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will drop 10 places on the Canadian Grand Prix grid for taking new control electronics.
With the Ferrari power unit that let go in Baku last week whilst Leclerc was leading got deemed ‘beyond repair’ the team and driver arrived this weekend and was surrounded by talk of potential grid penalities.
Initially it appeared that this would not be the case, Leclerc having received a new Internal Combustion Engine, MGU-K, MGU-H and Control Electronics, though none of those components took him over the imits for the season.
Obviously, we are not in the best situation possible. For the power unit change I think there are still ongoing discussions, we’ll try to push (back) as much as possible the decision. For now, no decisions are taken. But it’s not the best situation for me. It’s up to us to choose the best track where you want to get a penalty – if you get a penalty. And this is one of the tracks where it’s actually quite easy to overtake. But there are also some of the tracks in the next three or four races where it’s easier to overtake too. We’ll discuss and try and take the best decision from there.
Charles Leclerc on the possible penalty
But, the FIA confirmed another new Control Electronics for Leclerc, taking him to three for the season and thus pushing him over the permitted number of components. As such, he drops 10 places on the grid for the first Canadian GP to be held since 2019.
A new Control Electronic has been fitted to Charles’ car prior to FP2. It is the third of these elements used so far this season – only two are permitted – therefore Charles takes a grid penalty.
Ferrair’s statement.
This now gives Red Bull’s Max Verstappen a major boost in the race for the 2022 Drivers title, the reigning world champ comes into this weekend with a 34 point buffer over Leclerc.
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