Charles Leclerc will start second to last in the 2022 Canadian Grand Prix

New blow for Charles Leclerc this weekend. After the announcement of a 10-place penalty for fitting a new electronic component to the Ferrari, the FIA has just confirmed an even more significant penalty as Leclerc will start in last position.

Ferrari had to analyze Leclerc’s engine block after it broke down in Baku last weekend. The Scuderia communicated about the irreparable nature of the breakdown. Therefore, it came as no surprise that Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari had to have new elements installed on its power unit.

In 2022, power units are made up of several components: the combustion engine, the MGU-H, the MGU-K, the turbo, and the electronic control unit. These elements are limited in number per car and per season. Starting from the 4th (3rd for the electronic control unit) installed on the car, a penalty of 10 grid places is imposed for each component change. This is why Leclerc will start from the back of the grid.

The penalty being already known before the qualifying session of the Canadian Grand Prix, that’s the reason why Leclerc only participated in the first part of it, thus qualifying in 15th place before his penalty.

Yesterday, Scuderia Ferrari had only installed a new electronic box to test updates that would affect the turbo’s operation. However, it was already planned to install new parts of the power unit, but nothing had been officially confirmed by the FIA yet.

Max Verstappen, the reigning champion and who was Leclerc’s main competitor for the title before the last Grand Prix, now takes a serious option for the championship if he manages to win the Canadian race.

The AlphaTauri driver, Yuki Tsunoda, who is also affected by the same penalty and qualified last, should start behind Charles Leclerc.