Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc faces a grid penalty, possibly at the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday, after a failed power unit that destroyed his race in Azerbaijan last weekend was declared cleared book.
Ferrari said the part was damaged beyond repair and that the problem could be related to an earlier incident at the Spanish Grand Prix.
A spokeswoman said the group was working on “countermeasures” to strengthen the package.
Leclerc has dropped from the top of the Formula One championship after three races to third place overall, 34 points behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen after eight of 22 laps.
He retired from two of the last three races with power unit problems, despite starting the last four from pole position.
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Monegasque told reporters before practicing the Canadian Grand Prix that no decision had been made on when to implement any grid penalties for exceeding the allotment of power unit components during the season.
“Obviously we’re not in the best possible situation,” he said. “As for changing the power unit, I think there are still discussions going on.
“We’re going to try and push the decision as much as we can, so no decisions have been made at the moment.”
Leclerc said Canada isn’t a bad place to take a penalty, as the pass is fairly easy, but some other round of fixtures coming up could be better.
“We’ll discuss that and try to make the best decision from there,” he added.
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So far, Leclerc has used two of its three allotted engines but the third turbocharger.
Using the fourth turbocharger will trigger an automatic 10-point grid penalty from wherever he qualified on Saturday. Ferrari can avoid immediate fines by using salvageable parts from used power supplies.
Ferrari sent the faulty engine in Baku back to their Maranello factory for evaluation.
