The past few races have not gone to plan for Charles Leclerc and Ferrari with the Monegasque suffering engine issues in Barcelona and Baku - the 24-year-old also experienced a strategy blunder from his team Ferrari by costing him the win, despite claiming pole position.
Leclerc has already not got off to the best of starts this week with the Monegasque missing his flight to Montreal through no fault of his own - when can he catch a break?
It gets worse as Ferrari confirmed today that they cannot repair the power unit that had blown up in Baku as they described the engine themselves as "beyond repairable".
“One possible cause of the failure is that it occurred as a consequence of the PU problem in Spain,” the statement continued. “We are now working on countermeasures to strengthen the package, and the situation is under control.”
As found in the Formula 1 regulations, it clearly says that there are a certain amount of parts that teams are allowed before having to take a grid penalty to get another part that will take the amount over the limit. If Ferrari cannot reuse one of Leclerc's three turbochargers, then the Monegasque will have to deal with a 10-place grid drop.
“It’s up to us to choose the best track where you want to get a penalty – if you get a penalty,” Leclerc told media, including The Race, ahead of Friday’s practice sessions.
“This is one of the tracks where it’s actually quite easy to overtake.”
The qualifying session for this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix is set to be a wet session with there currently being over a 90% risk of rain as of today - this could result in the grid experiencing a shake-up as some drivers may deliver some surprise performances.
For the race however, it is forecasted to be dry as of today, so car performance will play more of a role on Sunday than it will on Saturday.
If you were Leclerc, would you risk an old turbocharger, or would you play it safe and get a new one and take the 10-place grid drop?
Nathan Hartley (@NathanHartleyF1)
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