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Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto says there is no clear indication that notifies the Maranello squad what caused Charles Leclerc's issues during the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Leclerc had a comfortable 10-second lead before he reported that there was a problem with his engine. He soon found himself being passed by Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, who went on to take the race win.
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Leclerc also dropped behind Valtteri Bottas but secured a spot on the podium after the race finished under a safety car that was called after the two Renault's stopped at Turn 1 with mechanical problems.
Binotto says that Ferrari will investigate the problems soon, as it attempts to swallow the difficult result.
"We need to now look at the engine, the car, the data," he said. "We don't have a clear indication yet, it's too early so we'll check later on. It's good that we finished that race in third place, points that will count.
"We got the fastest lap of the race too, thanks to Charles. He did a great race, it's obviously disappointing but we need to look at the positives from the weekend and come back again stronger.
"I think we had a good car this weekend. We can count on our two drivers, obviously it was not a great race for Seb as well, he was second when he made the mistake but he can still deliver."
Vettel was battling with Hamilton for second place before spinning out on the exit of Turn 4, which resulted in an extra pit stop for the German.
However, Binotto is reserving judgement over the incident: "It's something that can happen in a race. They were fighting, it's understandable, so no blame at all."
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Replies (6)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I kinda think this is either them not knowing what the problem is, or not wanting to tell anyone as to avoid causing uproars.
Manto02
Posts: 93
Most likely the second one, they blamed car balance in Australia but it is clear that the power unit has many problems to solve
abhidbgt
Posts: 283
If they provide same PU to their customers then I think the issue might be the way they integrated it in their chassis, as no other customers' PU has had a problem.
michielhimself
Posts: 132
LeClerc's car had a problem with the battery charge / discharge circuitry, at least that ws what some reporters pieced together towards the end of the race. Something that was unique to Ferrari last year and a reason for the FIA to equip their PU with extra sensors. If Ferrari maintained that development path but now have to hide it even better, it could explain why no customer unit suffered this issue; those don't have the same dual charge / deploy circuitry. If it's true that car #16 suffered that issue.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I kinda think the customers too had that, only Ferrari have more modes to play around with, them being the works team and all. Going fully tinfoil-hatty on this, I could absolutely see it being related to that, and Im kinda leaning on this being an electrical issue of sorts. Had it been ICE/turbo, the whole car would've likely shut down, whereas this more looked like what Ricciardo had during Monaco last year. Could still be a cylinder issue, sure, but I find electrical more likely.
xoya
Posts: 583
I read somewhere that he had a cylinder failure. Of course, this is only a smokescreen, like that floor damage Hamilton has sustained.