Scuderia Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz’s reliability failure last Sunday in the Austrian Grand Prix meant the Maranello team lost a one-two finish at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, which would have been a great result to reduce the gap to Red Bull in the Formula 1 Constructor Standings even more.
The Spaniard had been following his Maranello team-mate Charles Leclerc as the two Ferrari F1-75 cars were chasing the RB18 of Max Verstappen in Spielberg and were close to winning the strategical battle thanks to a better tyre degradation. Charles Leclerc regained first place with his third overtaking move on Max Verstappen in Austria and went on to win the race, while Carlos Sainz looked set to follow suit, but unfortunately encountered his second reliability failure of the season due to a power unit issue as he was forced to pull off to the side and jump away from the inferno that was developing in the back of his Ferrari F1-75 car.
This was the fourth time this season Ferrari has lost valuable points as a result of engine issues, with Charles Leclerc missing out on two race wins in Spain and Baku. Carlos Sainz also had to retire in Azerbaijan, meaning that reliability has been the main factor which led to the Maranello team falling behind Red Bull in both championships.
A few days after the Austrian Grand Prix, German automobile magazine Auto Motor und Sport confirmed that for Ferrari there is no quick fix for the power unit failures.
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“At the moment it doesn’t look like Ferrari has a solution to the engine problems. Even if they have one, it will take time to build it into the engines. The current engines in the pool [both drivers] obviously still have the thing that causes the issues. Until the next engines come in the Power Unit pool, it’s going to take until Spa-Francorchamps for sure, and that would also mean another penalty for Charles Leclerc. I believe Carlos Sainz will drive with a new power unit in Paul Ricard.” – Motorsport F1 journalist and expert Michael Schmidt said during the latest episode of the Auto Motor und Sport podcast following the Austrian Grand Prix.
It also doesn’t seem like Scuderia Ferrari is reducing the power because of the reliability issues: “Absolutely not. They have to drive with full power. They have to take full risk. I think they do a similar strategy to what Mercedes did last year.” – Michael Schmidt confirmed.
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