Charles Leclerc Baku pitstop: 5.7 seconds due to front and rear jack issues

Charles Leclerc Baku pitstop: 5.7 seconds due to front and rear jack issues. 5.7 seconds due to front and rear jack issues.

The 2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix did not start very well for Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc: when the lights went out, despite an excellent clutch detachment, he was unable to maintain the leadership against the Red Bull of Sergio Perez, who had a great start from the front row alongside the Monegasque. The unfortunate retirement of his Maranello teammate Carlos Sainz due to problems with the hydraulic system for the Spanish driver who saw the words ‘brake by wire failure’ appear on the steering wheel – gave Ferrari the opportunity to be strategically aggressive, especially after the events in Monaco.

On the occasion of the Virtual Safety Car resulting from the retirement of the F1-75 #55, the Ferrari pit wall promptly called Charles Leclerc to the pits to switch to the hard compound tires, saving about ten seconds thanks to the Virtual Safety Car. With the medium tires, in fact, as in Miami, Red Bull showed a certain superiority in the first stint of the race, as Max Verstappen was able to stay under one second behind Charles Leclerc, even if then on the long straight the Dutchman never came close to overtaking the Ferrari driver.

Charles Leclerc’s pit stop was quite long, but the problems encountered are certainly not attributable to the mechanics’ uncertainty in changing tires regularly and without delays in preparing the material. The issue that forced Ferrari to keep Charles for 5.7 seconds was a malfunction of the jack that lifts the car at the front. A detail that could have made a negative difference if Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen had used the same strategies and thus fighting for the position.

Another aspect therefore to be analyzed in view of the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal as well as obviously waiting for the investigation that will be carried out tomorrow at Maranello on Charles Leclerc’s power unit. The smoke suggests that it was the thermal component that failed, which was the second one of the season already inaugurated in Florida (Miami) and then rotated with the first in the previous weekends with the exclusive use of the first engine in Monaco. The ICE which went up in smoke yesterday had survived the k.o. of Barcelona, but in Montreal a third component will necessarily be used.