Charles Leclerc’s SF-23 single-seater hasn’t returned to Maranello yet, but from the telemetry data analysis, it appears that the sensor that went haywire during the formation lap of the Brazilian GP was related to the differential. The sudden lockup of the red car originated from the torque splitter, causing the hydraulic systems and the engine to go into recovery mode. The power unit is safe, but in Maranello, they need to understand if an adjustment to the clutch made at the last minute might have caused this.
Now there’s also confirmation: Charles Leclerc’s engine is safe. The news came from the Italian daily newspaper Corriere dello Sport and was reported by journalist Fulvio Solms, but it couldn’t be otherwise since the Monegasque driver crashed into the barriers at Turn 6 during the formation lap of the Brazilian GP due to an electronic blackout that literally blocked the power unit and all the systems managed by the hydraulic system: brake-by-wire, gearbox, differential, power steering.
Charles’s SF-23 has yet to return to Maranello to be dismantled, but a detailed analysis of telemetry data has guided the search for information, and it seems that the element that triggered the alarm was the differential. The failure of a sensor would have sent the signal that there was a serious problem in the torque splitter, while there would have been no actual breakage. But the alarm was so serious that it exceeded the first danger threshold, activating the second protection that drastically locked the hydraulic system and all the systems mentioned above.
The lockup at the rear wheels of the red car, therefore, originated from the differential: on TV, we saw the slight smoke from the tires before the SF-23, devoid of any control (the steering was locked without power steering), crashed into the barriers.
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The Prancing Horse technicians will now have to understand why the entire car went into protection without an actual breaking point. Both Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc suffered from clutch setting problems. It cannot be ruled out that the root of the issue may have come from a modification made in the launch control management.
Although it may seem paradoxical, something like a planetary alignment in space must have happened. An unthinkable sequence of small events would have caused Charles Leclerc to suddenly become a “passenger” in his car without control. It’s fortunate that it happened before the start of the GP and not while the Ferrari driver was already racing because one can easily imagine what could have happened.
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