Scuderia Ferrari have shared more details about the engine issue suffered by Charles Leclerc’s last weekend at the Baku City Circuit which forced the Monegasque driver to retire while he was leading the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Charles Leclerc was battling the Red Bull cars of Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen for the victory in Baku when he suffered a sudden and catastrophic power unit problem.
The issue was clear for everyone to see, as smoke came out from the exhaust of the the Ferrari F1-75 car, with Charles Leclerc having to bring the car back to the pits, where his race ended just like in Barcelona. This incident took place just a few laps after his Maranello teammate Carlos Sainz had retired due to a hydraulic issue.
After the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc’s power unit was brought back to the Maranello factory, where a detailed inspection was performed by the team’s engine department who have now confirmed that that the power unit is damaged “beyond repair”.
After their analysis, Scuderia Ferrari feel that one possible cause for Charles Leclerc’s engine issue at the Baku City Circuit is that the blow-out was actually a consequence of the earlier problem which the Monegasque driver had suffered in the Spanish Grand Prix.
Ferrari believe that undetected damage caused by the Monegasque’s DNF at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain could have led to the problem in Azerbaijan last weekend.
The Maranello team are now working on countermeasures to improve the reliability of its engine for the next races and have confirmed that the situation is “under control”.
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