One time it can be a coincidence. At the second, a question arises. At the third, it can no longer be a coincidence. Ferrari has a problem with its power units, that have been showing signs of failure since the Spanish Grand Prix in Montmeló. The last engine to raise the white flag was that of Kevin Magnussen’s Haas, which failed the Dane on lap 19 of the Monaco Grand Prix last weekend.
The reliability problem did not affect the US team’s race much, because in any case Kevin Magnussen would have ended out of the points in Monaco, but will have repercussions in the near future. Haas need to understand the extent of the damage, which parts of the power unit can be saved and what they have in common with the critical issues detected by other Ferrari engines: “We had a problem with the power unit, so we had to withdraw the car, unfortunately there was nothing to do.” – said the Dane after the race in Monaco. “I thought our pace in the race was good, considering we were in the wet tending to dry, that I was able to keep Gasly behind until our problem and that I was getting close to Valtteri Bottas. It would have been really interesting to see what could have happened during the pit stops“.
Kevin Magnussen’s engine trouble in Monaco is just the latest in a list of problems that began with Valtteri Bottas on Friday in Montmeló (the Finn had also encountered problems in Jeddah) and continued with the very costly failure of Charles Leclerc’s power unit in Spain, as the Monegasque driver was heading to a dominant win at the Circuit de Catalunya. Still in Barcelona, Guanyu Zhou retired early due to problems with the power unit. In Monte Carlo, both Haas and Bottas once again had problems. In Maranello they have two weeks to analyze the critical issues, then Baku arrives. Another failure in Azerbaijan too would set off the red alert for good.
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