Scuderia Ferrari has provided updates on the recent mechanical problems suffered by its customer team Haas, after the Maranello team thoroughly investigated the power units and have concluded that the MGU-K was the problematic element.
The engine issues suffered by Ferrari junior Mick Schumacher and his teammate Kevin Magnussen in the last few races were related to Ferrari’s supplied MGU-K, as reported by German magazine Auto Motor und Sport.
Mick Schumacher was on his way to scoring his first Formula 1 points last weekend at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in the Canadian Grand Prix, but had to retire on lap 19 after he started the Montreal race from sixth place in what seemed to be a much stronger weekend for the Ferrari junior.
Unfortunately, Mick Schumacher was forced to end the race prematurely and stopped on the long straight. Ferrari has now confirmed the problem was in fact an MGU-K failure on the Ferrari power unit, as reported by Auto Motor und Sport earlier today.
Haas has been affected by four similar problems during the first nine events of the 2022 Formula 1 season, as Mick Schumacher also encountered MGU-K issues in free practice on the streets of Monte Carlo, while his Danish teammate has also such mechanical failures at the Imola circuit a few weeks ago and also in Monaco, where he had to retire due to an MGU-K failure.
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As a result, Kevin Magnussen has already reached his final allowed MGU-K for the current championship, while Mick Schumacher is now using his last permitted. Any other failures will therefore mean grid penalties for the drivers, which will inevitability sooner or later taking into consideration the fact that there are still 13 race weekends left in the current campaign.
Kevin Magnussen’s issue at the Baku City Circuit in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix has been identified as the MGU-H.
As reported by Auto Motor und Sport, Scuderia Ferrari believe that the low ride height of the Haas VF-22 car led to heavier contact with kerbing and track bumps – affecting the American-based team’s cars more than fellow Ferrari customers Alfa Romeo, as well as the Maranello team itself. Alfa Romeo have also suffered an MGU-K failure, with Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas losing one at the Monaco Grand Prix a few weeks ago.
At the same time, Ferrari have struggled with reliability on the engine side this season, due to issues across their energy recovery systems and turbos, rather than with the internal combustion engine itself.
A high-profile retirement for Charles Leclerc at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona was confirmed as a turbocharger and MGU-H technical problem, with the Italian side deciding against changing his power unit after identifying the cause.
Yet, Charles Leclerc retirement from the lead at the Baku City Circuit in Azerbaijan is suspected to have been caused by some unspotted damage as a result of the Spanish failure. Scuderia Ferrari therefore introduced a new engine, turbo, MGU-H, and MGU-K to Charles Leclerc’s F1-75 challenger for the Montreal race.
With Haas bearing the brunt of the Ferrari issues so far, team principal Guenther Steiner confirmed the situation is become a huge concern in the last few events now that their allocation of MGU-Ks has almost been used up.
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