Things have somehow managed to turn from bad to worse for Ferrari and Charles Leclerc as Leclerc will be the recipient of a 10-place grid penalty for excessive engine usage before tomorrow’s 2022 Canadian Grand Prix.
Ferrari and Leclerc have incurred the penalty after being forced to replace a electronics control unit at the 2022 Canadian Grand Prix – their third such unit this season – with teams only being allowed two units per driver per season.
It is the latest in a series of outright bungling and misfortune that have plagued both Leclerc and the team after being presented with a gift at the beginning of the season when Leclerc’s primary rival, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, recorded DNF’s for two of the first three races of the season and gave Leclerc a seemingly healthy 46-point lead after just three races.
But what ensued was a combination of bungling of strategy by Ferrari [most notably at the 2022 Monaco Grand Prix but in other races as well], driving mistakes by Leclerc [2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix] and the same type of misfortune that hit Verstappen in those first two races [Leclerc has suffered two engine failures in the last three races, both times when he was in the lead and seemingly on his way to victories].
All that has turned Leclerc’s early 46-point lead into a 34-point deficit at the beginning of the 2022 Canadian Grand Prix – which he will now start with a 10-place grid penalty.