Charles-Leclerc

Picture Credit: Formula 1

Scuderia Ferrari F1 driver Charles Leclerc will accept a 10-place grid penalty at the Canadian Grand Prix as he will be taking a new control electronics on his Ferrari F1-75. Leclerc will get a new Internal Combustion Engine, MGU-K, MGU-H and Control Electronics, though none of those components took him over the limits for the season.

The Prancing Horse released a statement addressing the Leclerc’s grid penalty. The statement said, “A new Control Electronic has been fitted to Charles’ car prior to FP2,” the team affirmed. “It is the third of these elements used so far this season – only two are permitted – therefore Charles takes a grid penalty.”

The overtaking was a little bit more difficult than I expected: Leclerc

Similarly, the Monegasque driver talked about the penalty and addressed the difficulty of overtaking. “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”, Leclerc said.

Leclerc also talked about how close the title race is against RedBull’s Max Verstappen. He said, “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.”

Ferrari suffered a double DNF in the previous race at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Here Carlos Sainz suffered a hydraulic issue, while Leclerc suffered a power unit failure. Addressing the disappointment in Baku, Leclerc said, “I am more than frustrated, obviously.” 

“The first stint, in the beginning, we weren’t particularly strong, but towards the end of the stint on the medium I was catching back Checo [Perez] and then obviously there was the VSC [Virtual Safety Car], and we decided to take that opportunity to pit, and I think it was the right choice,” Leclerc added. 

“We were in the lead of the race, I was managing the tyres well, we just had to manage the tyres and the race till the end, which I think was… we were definitely in the best position possible to do that. Another DNF – it hurts… We really need to look into that for it to not happen again.”