Leclerc hit with 10-place engine grid penalty for F1 Canadian GP

The Monegasque suffered his second retirement in three races at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix when his Ferrari engine blew up while leading. Leclerc now trails Max Verstappen by 34 points after the Red Bull driver eased to his fourth win in the last five races. 

As a result, Leclerc is now certain to be hit by grid penalties further down the line for exceeding power unit components. Leclerc has already reached his maximum allocation of three turbocharges for the season, as well as two internal combustion engines, MGU-Hs and MGU-Ks. 

Ahead of FP1, the FIA announced that Leclerc had taken a new internal combustion engine, MGU-H, MGU-K and energy store.

Shortly after the second session, it was announced that Leclerc has also taken a new control electronics and thus will incur a 10-place grid penalty.

Ahead of this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, Ferrari confirmed that Leclerc’s power unit from Azerbaijan is damaged “beyond repair” and therefore cannot be used again. 

"Investigation confirmed Charles Leclerc's Baku power-unit is beyond repair,” a Ferrari statement read. 

“One possible cause of the failure is it occurred as a consequence of the problem in Spain. We are now working on countermeasures to strengthen the package and the situation is under control.” 

Despite his recent woes, Leclerc, who has claimed the last four pole positions, insists the motivation remains high at Maranello to return to winning ways and hunt down Red Bull in both world championships. 

“Three races in a row with problems or a mistake, but as a team I think we are working extremely hard,” he added. “The pace is there, which is the positive to take. The motivation is still extremely high!”