A thorough investigation will be conducted into the issue that led to Charles Leclerc’s abandonment
Frédéric Vasseur, boss of Ferrari, announced that an investigation will be conducted following the engine failure that forced Charles Leclerc to retire last Sunday, during the first Grand Prix of the season.
The Scuderia leaves Bahrain with twelve points thanks to Carlos Sainz’s fourth-place finish. Unlucky Charles Leclerc, on the other hand, was forced to retire sixteen laps before the end while he was in third position.
Ferrari replaced the energy accumulator and the engine electronic control system of Leclerc before the race, but Frédéric Vasseur, when asked about the origin of the problem, did not confirm if these parts were the cause of the Monégasque’s retirement. He says he is surprised by such a breakdown.
We did not expect such a problem, as it is the first time we have encountered it and we have not faced the same issue during the six or seven thousand kilometers we covered with the engine last week, with the three teams [Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, and Haas], and with the test bench. We need to conduct a thorough investigation before giving you an answer.
“We had a problem with the engine and we need to investigate to understand exactly what happened. It’s not the engine itself, but an accessory. I would say it’s unfortunate, but it’s the reality of the situation,” he declared after the race.
Regarding the performance of his team, he assures that the SF-23 is as fast as Red Bull in qualifying pace. However, he admits that in race pace, the reigning world champions have the upper hand.
[A bout of speed on one lap] We were able to compete with Red Bull, but that was not the case on a long stint… Charles probably would have been able to do P3 but… we were not able to finish the race.The image is also that we need to make huge progress in terms of reliability. We must consider today’s race as the real picture, starting from there, improving and changing the situation.
In addition to speed, tire wear is another issue that afflicts the Maranello team. It was evident again on Sunday when Sainz missed out on the podium, being overtaken by his fellow countryman, Fernando Alonso.
Carlos had a solid race, at a steady pace, and he gave it his all to finish fourth. We need to improve in terms of tire management and ensure that we won’t have any more reliability issues like the one that affected us today, added Fred Vasseur.
