Ferrari

Leclerc hit with Saudi Arabian GP grid penalty

Ewan Gale Wednesday 15 March 2023 14:11 Updated: 14:53

Leclerc hit with Saudi Arabian GP grid penalty

Charles Leclerc will take a 10-place grid penalty for the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix on Sunday.

The Monégasque endured a nightmare start to the season when retiring from third in the closing stages of the Bahrain Grand Prix.

After the power unit failure, Ferrari has been forced to fit another Control Electronics unit on Leclerc's engine, which, after the component was already changed between qualifying and the race in Bahrain, means he will be using his third of the season already.

With only two CEs allocated to drivers for an entire season, the switch has triggered a penalty.

The switch also brings further penalties for CE changes into question later in the campaign.

Confirming the grid drop speaking to media on Wednesday, as quoted by F1.com, team principal Fred Vasseur said: "On Sunday, we had two different issues.

“The first one was on the Sunday morning, when we did the fire up, and the second one was in the race. Unfortunately, it was two times the control unit, the ECU.

“It’s something that we never experienced in the past. I hope now it’s under control, but we have a deep analysis on this.

"Unfortunately, we’ll have to take the penalty in Jeddah, because we have only a pool of two control units for the season.”

Latest News

Saudi Grand Prix

Lando Norris left furious at 'IDIOT' crash after hitting the wall at Saudi Grand Prix

6 minutes ago

Saudi Grand Prix Qualifying

F1 Qualifying Results: Verstappen handed early qualifying shock at Saudi Grand Prix

23 minutes ago

Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Sky Sports F1 star Ted Kravitz confirms Saudi Grand Prix absence

1 hour ago

F1 Today

F1 News Today: Hamilton pain continues at Jeddah as F1 star handed FIA penalty verdict

1 hour ago

Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

F1 2025 Saudi Grand Prix weather forecast - Latest from Jeddah

1 hour ago

F1 Explained

F1 cooling vests: What are the new FIA measures causing drivers trouble in 2025?

2 hours ago

More news

F1 Race Calendar 2025

GP AUSTRALIA 14 - 14 Mar

GP BAHRAIN 11 - 11 Apr

Oscar Piastri

GP SAUDI ARABIA 18 - 18 Apr

GP USA 2 - 2 May

GP ITALY 16 - 16 May

GP MONACO 23 - 23 May

GP SPAIN 30 - 30 May

GP CANADA 13 - 13 Jun

Complete kalender 2025

F1 News 24/7

Races

About GPFans

GPFans is a multi-platform, multi-language brand dedicated to Formula One coverage. We bring you all the ins and outs of the sport, 24/7, everything from up-to-the-minute news and features to the latest viral stories and clips.

We believe that a new generation of exciting, outspoken drivers will make F1 more popular than ever before, and we want to give our users access to as much of their heroes as possible, on and off the track. From Lewis Hamilton to Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo to Sebastian Vettel, we provide in-depth analysis of every every Grand Prix in the season, from Australia to Abu Dhabi.

With Formula One under the new ownership of Liberty Media, how the sport is being covered is evolving, and GPFans will look to be at the heart of this progression into new media, as one of the fastest-growing sites covering the king of motorsports.

Follow us on your favorite social media channel

Corporate & Media

Innovatieweg 20C
7007 CD, Doetinchem, Netherlands
+31645516860

CHOOSE YOUR COUNTRY

Leclerc hit with Saudi Arabian GP grid penalty

Leclerc hit with Saudi Arabian GP grid penalty