“We learned about the engine problem first from Charles via radio than from the engineers’ data. It was a surprise that came out of nowhere” – Mattia Binotto explained that the failure which forced Charles Leclerc to take the pit lane on lap 27 while leading the 2022 Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix by more than 11 seconds did not give any warning signs.
The Monegasque driver, although losing power, was able to return to the pit lane, a sign that the internal combustion engine should not have suffered any damage and there is a good possibility it can be saved and continue to be used given the fact that the Spanish Grand Prix was only the second of seven GPs foreseen for this power unit.
Unit 066/7 number two was immediately removed from the F1-75 car and sent to Maranello where this morning the technicians headed by Enrico Gualtieri will look for the causes of the failure.
It is very likely that the failure concerned only one particular component of the turbo, since no smoke was seen coming out of the exhaust to justify a fire. Reliability will be a very important issue in this championship and most likely no team will be able to finish the championship with just three power units, without having to take grid penalties in the second part of the season, as happened to Ferrari last year: “We were doing another championship – Mattia Binotto explained – Red Bull and Mercedes were using many more…”.
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