Scuderia Ferrari intends to disassemble the SF-23 before officially confirming what went wrong with Charles Leclerc’s car during the formation lap of the Brazilian GP at the 4.309-kilometre Autódromo José Carlos Pace, better known as Autódromo de Interlagos. The Monegasque driver crashed at turn 6 after his car shut down due to an electronic issue that sent the hydraulic system into recovery mode, rendering the gearbox, brake-by-wire, differential, power unit, and power steering non-functional.
The problem that led to the Ferrari SF-23’s blackout for Charles Leclerc during the formation lap of the Brazilian Grand Prix would not have been a hydraulic issue but rather an electronic glitch, likely originating from a gearbox or brake-by-wire electrovalve.
This would explain why the Monegasque driver experienced a rear-end lock-up before the electronic control unit triggered a protection map that put various mechanical functions into recovery mode: the power unit and hydraulic system. The engine shut down, and all aids instantly ceased to function, leaving Charles without power steering (making the steering extremely heavy), transmission, differential, and brake-by-wire.
It was impossible for the driver, who was supposed to start from the front row alongside pole-sitter Max Verstappen, to control the Ferrari, and it was inevitable that the SF-23 would collide with the barriers. Before leaving the cockpit, Charles Leclerc had attempted to reset the electronics to assess the possibility of restarting.
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Like other cars, Ferrari uses the MGU-K as a starter, so the driver attempted to restart it before assessing any damage to the suspension and aerodynamics. Shortly after the race started, a red flag was waved due to an accident involving Alex Albon, Kevin Magnussen, Oscar Piastri, and Daniel Ricciardo, giving some hope of restarting Charles’ car.
For a moment, the power unit showed signs of reactivation, but the protection mode reactivated, shutting everything down again. Ferrari did not provide updates on the cause of Charles Leclerc’s retirement; the engineers want to disassemble the car before giving an official assessment, although those at the pit wall and Remote Garage may have had the opportunity to see the anomalous data.
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