Charles Leclerc to serve ten place grid penalty at the Canadian GP

Last weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix saw Leclerc withdraw from the lead, marking the second time in three races that the Ferrari driver has been forced to retire due to power unit troubles. He previously experienced issues in Barcelona as well. If Charles Leclerc hopes to win his first race since the Australian Grand Prix, he will have to fight his way through the field in Montreal, as he has been forced to suffer a 10-place grid penalty after it was reported that he will be replacing the control electronics on his Ferrari F1-75.

‘It was the best decision to make’

The power unit used by Leclerc in Baku was beyond repair going into the weekend, and despite rumors, it was unclear whether the Monegasque racer would be required to suffer a grid penalty. However, following FP2, Ferrari confirmed that Leclerc had been compelled to use new control electronics. “Well, obviously I’m starting a little bit more in the back, But I think it was the best decision to make so let’s see how it goes. The overtaking was a little bit more difficult than I expected today but yeah, I mean the pace is there so hopefully we can come back to where we want to be.” said leclerc.

The gap to Red Bull

In Canada, Ferrari will try to narrow the 80-point advantage to Red Bull in the constructors’ championship. When asked how close the two opponents were, he said they were “very close.” “It is pretty close. The race pace we need to work on – I mean it’s a bit difficult to have a clear picture because I was on a different compound all the time but overall, it didn’t look too bad so that’s good.” expressed the Monegasque driver.

Read more: Red Bull feels that Ferrari will sort their issue and will be back stronger after Baku

Sainz citing a comeback

Carlos Sainz, Leclerc’s teammate, is also hoping to rebound in Montreal after retiring early from the race in Baku due to a hydraulics issue. Despite placing second and third in the first and second practice. “Max looks to be very quick this weekend, he was on it since the beginning, and I think we’re playing a little bit of catch up to him, in both one-lap pace and on long run. But I think with the steps that we normally do into Saturday and Sunday, we can get ourselves up there.” sessions, Sainz feels Ferrari is lagging behind Red Bull and Verstappen.

Ferrari’s attack on Verstappen has been hampered by Leclerc’s grid penalty, which will see the Monegasque lose 10 places on the grid due to his first CE infraction of the season, with F1 fans waiting to see whether Ferrari makes any more component adjustments to his power unit as the weekend progresses.