The disappointment on the face of Carlos Sainz after retiring on lap 56 of the Austrian GP while he was chasing Max Verstappen to complete a historic Ferrari one-two at Red Bull, was darker than the burnt engine cover of his Ferrari F1-75, which was partially destroyed after the sudden failure of the power unit in Spielberg
The Spaniard, more and more at ease with the F1-75 car after a difficult start of the season (in qualifying he was only 53 thousandths behind Charles Leclerc), literally saw his hopes of being able to fight for the world championship go up in smoke due to a failure that sends him 75 points behind the leader of the championship and 37 behind his Maranello teammate.
The Spanish driver’s disappointment, therefore, is fully justified, even if a very interesting aspect is emerging that should give Carlos some confidence: it seems that the power unit that failed at Spielberg is not the third one, which was first used in Silverstone, but the second one, with a life span of five GPs (Imola, Miami, Spain, Baku, Canada) considering that in Monaco, engine 1 was most likely used.
According to Motorsport Italy, therefore, the explosion did not happen for the fresh engine, but for a power unit that would have reached well over half of its expected duration. However, too little to counter the pace of the RBPTH001 (Honda) power unit which, on the other hand, has proved much better from a reliability point of view.
The staff led by Enrico Gualtieri is under pressure to find a solution, although team principal Mattia Binotto admitted: “It is possible that the issue was the same as Charles Leclerc’s in Baku. In Austria we could have scored another one-two and we didn’t succeed. This is proof that we are not yet safe from reliability problems, we need to work even more on it. Now we will analyze what happened to Carlos Sainz and we will try to understand in order to find short-term solutions.” – the Ferrari boss said after the Austrian Grand Prix.
The disassembly of Carlos Sainz’s engine confirmed that the 6-cylinder failed similarly to the one that had stopped Charles Leclerc in Baku, for which Ferrari had already identified the reasons behind the issue affecting 066/7, a power unit as powerful as it is fragile. The FIA prohibits the development of power units, but allows teams to work on them of the changes are related to safety.
Ferrari now has to decide whether to mount Power Unit 4 on the F1-75 car of Carlos Sainz, which would mean a grid penalty in the French Grand Prix, taking into consideration the fact that Paul Ricard is a track where it is possible to make up positions and with a stronger PU the Spanish driver should be able to attack.
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In any case, the Spaniard has engine 3 that only raced in the British GP and is still fresh: in Maranello they do not want to encounter any surprises in an appointment like the Hungaroring where Ferrari is confident it can take a one-two finish. And the need to free up an engine is also given by the fact that a power unit with fewer kilometers is needed for free practice, given that the PU1 has already done its part largely.
Carlos Sainz, therefore, will pave the way for the most robust engine and, according to the results that will emerge from the Spaniard’s power unit, the plan for how to rotate the engines during the race weekend will be outlined for both drivers. The Monegasque has two units (4 and 5) with which he will be able to complete the races in France and Hungary without too many fears, giving the Maranello engineers time to work on a reliability fix.
Ferrari has entered a crucial phase of the season: if it solves the engine puzzle it will have serious chances of competing against Red Bull and Max Verstappen in the two world championships.
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