Sainz was forced to withdraw from the Austrian Grand Prix when he was third in the closing stages two weeks ago after a fire broke out on his car following engine failure.
The problem and the fire left Ferrari wondering whether or not to change Sainz’s power unit and take a grid penalty at Paul Ricard this weekend. Ferrari F1 boss Mattia Binotto said after Austria it was ‘very likely’ a change would be needed, while Sainz said on Thursday there was ‘a chance’ he might have to. TO DO.
Following the start of opening testing in France, the FIA released an update confirming the new power unit items taken for this weekend, one of which was new control electronics on the car from Sainz.
As this is Sainz’s third electronic check of the season, breaking the annual limit of two, it has triggered an automatic drop in the grid by 10 places.
Sainz’s power unit has also been fitted with a fresh energy tank, but since it’s only his second item of the season, he remains within the annual limit and has no additional penalty.
Carlos Sainz’s burnt-out Ferrari F1-75 car after fire causes retirement
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
But if Ferrari decided to stagger any further power unit changes over the rest of the weekend – an approach taken with Charles Leclerc in Canada – and take a new engine, turbocharger, MGU-K or MGU-K, then this would drop Sainz to the back of the grid.
The penalty will come as yet another setback for Sainz, who said on Thursday Austria’s retirement came just as he was “reviving my championship hopes” after winning at Silverstone. The Spaniard is now 75 points behind leader Max Verstappen and 37 behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
Changes have also been made to Lewis Hamilton’s car at Mercedes for France, where he will run with a new turbocharger, power tank and MGU-H this weekend. All new items remain in-limit, meaning Hamilton won’t serve any grid drops.
Hamilton is joined in taking on a new power shop by Sainz, George Russell and Zhou Guanyu, while Verstappen and Lando Norris both have a new exhaust system for this weekend without any penalties.
