Ferrari has confirmed that Charles Leclerc will use the same power unit in F1 Chinese GP as the one he used in Bahrain GP.
Leclerc had a storming weekend in Bahrain where he topped all the sessions barring FP2 and the race itself. The Monegasque took his career’s first pole and looked set to score his maiden grand prix win in only his second outing with Ferrari.
However, with 15 laps remaining, he was struck with an issue which looked to be related to the MGU-H but team principal Mattia Binotto clarified after the grand prix that it was not the MGU-H but a miscombustion in one of engine cylinders.
After further checks made at Maranello, Ferrari has found the root cause of the issue which it states was due to a ‘short circuit within an injection system control unit’ – a problem which the Italian manufacturer faced for the first time only.
The report stated: “Following the race, the Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow technicians and engineers traced the fault on the car to a short circuit within an injection system control unit. This type of problem had never been seen before on the component in question.”
Binotto shot down any huge issues with the power unit in Bahrain itself and predicted that they would use the same engine at least on Friday of the Chinese GP. But the team has now confirmed that Leclerc will use the same unit for the whole grand prix.
It said: “Charles Leclerc will use the same power unit in China that he used for the Bahrain GP. The unit will be duly fitted on the number 16 car, in which the Monegasque driver had to settle for third place having led the race in style until a few laps from the flag.”
The unprecedented problem came as huge blow to Ferrari’s hopes of not only winning the race but scoring good haul of points after it lost out hugely in Australia. The car has inherent pace but reliability will play a key role as well to win both the titles.
Here’s what Ross Brawn said about Charles Leclerc