Europe 1 with AFP 20:03 p.m., March 15, 2023

By installing a third electronic box on his car, Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) will receive a penalty of ten places at the start of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this Sunday. A new blow for the F1 driver who is already behind his competitor Max Verstappen.

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc will be penalized ten places on Sunday at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after replacing an electronic component at the Bahrain GP, the Formula 1 team and organizers announced Wednesday. The Scuderia had to replace this electronic component once before the first GP of the season, and a second time before the race scheduled at the Jeddah circuit, while the regulations allow only one replacement per season for the same component, at the risk of a downgrade of ten places, said Formula One.

"We had two different problems" before and during the race, Ferrari team chief Frederic Vasseur told reporters. "Unfortunately, every time it was the control unit, the ECU," he added. "We have never experienced this kind of thing, I hope it is now under control but we have made a deep analysis of this incident," said the French engineer.

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"He remains motivated"

"Unfortunately we have to take the penalty in Jeddah because we only have two control units for the season," he said. This mechanical problem forced the young Monegasque driver to retire in the final third of the race while Ferrari was expected this season as the main rival of the Red Bulls. Leclerc is already 25 points behind Max Verstappen but, according to Frédéric Vasseur, "it is obvious that he remains motivated, we have only competed in one race out of the 23" of the calendar.