A truly complicated weekend at Ferrari, especially for Charles Leclerc. The pilot of red, in fact, has just returned from a Saturday that was quite forgettable. Ninth time and many errors, with one above all emerging: the touch with the wall in turn 9, four minutes from the end of Q3. Once again, Leclerc tried to lead to overdrive a car – the SF23 – that really doesn't want to get there to the "limit".
Leclerc against the wall: the fatal contact in turn 9
The Monegasque made two substitutions yesterday: the first to the power unit, mounting one already used in previous GPs; the other instead al cultural, , using the quarter available before incurring a penalty. Following Leclerc's mistake in qualifying, the Ferrari garage analyzed the condition of the SF-23. From the analysis, the need for mechanics to have emerged replace frame and gearbox, the very same one that had just been mounted a few hours earlier. However, there was no damage to the power unit.
Ferrari chooses the old gearbox, no penalty for Leclerc
The question obviously arises spontaneously: what did Ferrari decide to do? Use an old gearbox or face the penalty by fitting a new one? After various analyses, Ferrari preferred - as told by Roberto Chinchero on Motorsport.com - they preferred to fit a gearbox already used, avoiding the penalty. Therefore, the same argument made yesterday for the power unit was applied, with a possible penalty that certainly could not be ruled out, especially considering the Monza Grand Prix scheduled for next weekend.
