The engine should be safe
In Canada there have been various alarm bells regarding power unit. Max Verstappen, for example, had a significant ERS problem that emerged in FP2 on the third power unit of the season introduced in Montreal. Charles Leclerc has also already introduced three power units as a precaution after some alarms emerged in recent events – “Changing engines often is not a good sign”commented Leclerc – and in the race the Monegasque had 80 horsepower less for the entire first stint until a ‘reset’ was carried out during the pit stop where slick tires were mounted, a gamble that did not it worked.
The power recycling gave Leclerc back all the horses of the power unit as confirmed by the Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur at the press conference: “With Charles we had a major loss of power from the second lap. We were waiting for a red flag to be able to restart everything, but a neutralization of this magnitude did not arrive. The problem wasn’t with the engine itself, but with its controls. We had to turn it off to do a power cycle and restart it.”
According to what was gathered by our editorial staff the power unit in question is to all intents and purposes ‘save’ and can continue to be used in rotations during race weekends. The Maranello team decided to interrupt Leclerc’s ordeal – the driver welcomed this decision with ‘relief’ – also to avoid needlessly accumulating mileage on the drive unit.
