New battery
Ferrari’s 2023 season begins immediately with a question mark linked to reliability. In fact, with just two hours before the traffic lights will go out for the 2023 Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix, the Scuderia announced the replacement of the energy store change on Charles Leclerc’s SF-23 car. The news came via the usual official press release from the FIA, which before each Grand Prix provides a complete update on the power unit components that each team replaces ahead of the main event. In this case, the Maranello team was the only one to intervene to change an element, also considering that we are at the first race of the year.
No penalty
However, the Monegasque’s third position on the grid is not at risk, given that the regulation allows the possibility of using two energy store components over an entire season before taking a penalty on the starting grid. Of course, however, this move is not the most reassuring action for the #16, who was already the victim of several penalties last year, just like his teammate Carlos Sainz, due to various problems related to the reliability of the single-seater and especially the power unit.
Yesterday Charles Leclerc only completed one timed lap in Q3, giving up the second attempt for reasons that Ferrari had defined as strategic, with the intention of keeping an extra soft tire for today’s race. The Maranello team had explicitly ruled out that the decision to carry out a solo ‘run’ had anything to do with technical problems of any kind.
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