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The most important part of the Ferrari Formula 1 team’s analysis of the failure that stopped Charles Leclerc taking part in the Monaco Grand Prix will be understanding if the problem could have been detected sooner.
Leclerc qualified on pole for his home race as Ferrari’s SF21 came alive on the streets of Monaco but had a crash at the end of Q3 that ironically secured pole position as it stopped his main rivals improving.
Ferrari feared the crash might have damaged the gearbox and require a change that would trigger a five-place grid penalty but after extensive checks the team determined the gearbox was fine and committed to racing with the same unit.
On his first reconnaissance lap during the build-up to the grand prix, Leclerc reported a car problem and returned to the pits. Ferrari diagnosed a broken left driveshaft and he was unable to take the start.
Nothing was changed on the left rear after the crash as the FIA parc ferme rules only allow damaged components to be replaced. Team principal Mattia Binotto had revealed after the race that Ferrari had not checked the left rear because it was not a part that got damaged in the crash.
Binotto has reiterated this was not a gearbox failure and therefore no risk had been taken in Ferrari’s assessment of that component.
He said how the left-rear failure occurred and why would be understood after further analysis but added it was “more important” to establish whether Ferrari could have identified the issue sooner.
“It’s something we need to carefully analyse, but it’s not gearbox related,” Binotto said.
“If we would have changed the gearbox, those parts [that failed] would still have been on the car because they were not damaged from the accident. And the failure would still have happened.
“So, it’s not a matter of gambling with the gearbox at all. The gearbox was OK, and the gearbox didn’t fail.
“On our side, we need to understand what really happened, why it happened. And more than that if we could have detected it in parc ferme from [Saturday] afternoon or [Sunday] morning.
“It’s more important really to understand why we didn’t detect a problem on the car.
“The problem was not there since he left the garage. The problem started to appear in Turn 6 [Loews hairpin].
“The parts that were on the car were not showing any cracks, but the cracks happened only later.
“That’s only something we can analyse by looking at the parts in the next days, and looking at all the data.”
Ferrari is not convinced given Leclerc’s qualifying accident was the cause of the failure given it was the right-rear corner that took the impact.
It is possible the energy of the crash triggered a knock-on effect through the rear axle that ultimately led to the failure within the left-side hub.
Binotto admitted it “could be related to the accident” and again returned to the point it was “not a gearbox failure”. which was ultimately the main concern post-qualifying.
“So it’s not a matter of having gambled with the gearbox itself,” he repeated.
“And all the inspections we made on the gearbox were right, so the gearbox was safe, and working properly.
“So, it’s something else. Is it a consequence [of the crash] or not? I don’t know. Honestly, right now, I don’t know.
“Could we have detected it or not? Again, it’s something which we need to analyse and eventually find the final answer.
“But it was on the completely opposite side, on the other corner. Maybe not related or maybe yes, that’s part of the analysis of the next days.”
Ferrari’s conclusion of the cause of the failure will ultimately determine whether Leclerc led to his own downfall, given the crash was a result of driver error.
Leclerc’s stunning first run in Q3 had earned him provisional pole and he ended up in the wall exiting the Swimming Pool section on the second run trying to make up time after a slower first sector.
But the 23-year-old, who has a reputation for being extremely self-critical when he makes mistakes, said he was not punishing himself for this one.
Ferrari’s resurgent form in Monaco, which masked the remnants of its engine deficit and allowed the strength of the car to shine, had put it in the unlikely position of fighting for pole and victory for the first time since late-2019 and Leclerc contended he was simply pushing as hard as possible to make the most of that.
“Of course, you can always learn whenever things are not going the way you want to but I feel like I’ve done a good job this weekend anyway,” he said.
“It was not easy to miss FP1 completely, then I recovered quite well in FP2 and had a nice qualifying in general.
“In the last attempt of Q3, I just tried to be too much and went into the wall, which are things that can happen in Monaco. It has happened in the past.
“Many times I’m very, very harsh with myself, but if there was any time during the weekend where I had to push, it’s especially in Q3 in Monaco. It’s part of the game.
“You can always learn from it but I am not too harsh on myself for that one.”
