Leclerc receives 10 place grid penalty in Saudi Arabia

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grid penalty for Leclerc in Saudi Arabia
15 March 2023 at 14:16
Last update 15 March 2023 at 14:46
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  • GPblog.com

Charles Leclerc incurs a 10-spot grid penalty for the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix following his stoppage in Bahrain. In the process, two control unit were written off, forcing Leclerc to use a third for the race in Jeddah.

Leclerc retired from third place at the Bahrain Grand Prix, but that is far from solving the Ferrari driver's problems. According to Formula1.com, Ferrari has now revealed that Leclerc's first control unit had to be replaced prior to the race, after which the second one gave up during the race.

Leclerc in trouble

As a driver is only allowed to use two control units in an entire season, Leclerc is already facing a penalty for the second race. Besides, the question is whether the problem has already been solved. Team boss Frederic Vasseur hopes so, but is not yet sure, as the problem had not occurred before Bahrain.

''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 in the race. Unfortunately, it was two times the control unit, the ECU. It’s something that we never experienced in the past. I hope now it’s under control, but we have a deep analysis on this. Unfortunately, we’ll have to take the penalty in Jeddah, because we have only a pool of two control units for the season.''