Carlos Sainz will have to serve a 10-place grid penalty for this weekend’s Formula 1 French Grand Prix after his Ferrari team elected to take a third control electronics of the season so far on his car.
Sainz retired from the Austrian GP while chasing down second place finisher Max Verstappen as his Ferrari engine failed and a resulting small fire broke out.
His team said it was “very likely” that failure was the same as the one that put Charles Leclerc out of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and led to him taking a grid penalty for the next round in Canada.
A similar fate has befallen Sainz as his Ferrari team has taken a new control electronics, his third of the season which exceeds the limit of two for the season.
This leaves him with a 10-place grid penalty for the French GP. He’s also taken a new energy store but that’s within his allowance for the season.
It remains to be seen whether or not he’ll make further engine component changes later in the weekend – changes which would mandate a back-of-the-grid start.
That’s what Leclerc did in Montreal where he made his CE change first and then made further changes and took a heftier penalty later in the weekend.
