According to Ferrari, initial inspection of Charles Leclerc's gearbox reveals "no serious damage".

The news follows today's qualifying session in which the Monegasque claimed provisional pole before subsequently crashing, meaning that nobody else could improve on his time.

However, such was the impact of the incident at the Swimming Pool exit that there were fears the SF21 had incurred gearbox damage, which would have resulted in a new gearbox and a grid penalty.

While racing director, Laurent Mekies admitted that there was a "sword of Damocles hanging over the result", team boss, Mattia Binotto was adamant that the team wouldn't take any risks if uncertain of the condition of the unit.

"We will not gamble," said the Italian. "For us what's important after such a qualifying is to try to maximise the number of points for the championship, and obviously to maximise we need to finish the race. So reliability is key, reliability remains the priority. If we have any doubts, we will certainly change and fix it."

"I'm just waiting for the gearbox and that's it," admitted Leclerc. "For now, I can't enjoy as I would like to."

However, this evening Ferrari revealed that initial checks had shown no significant damage.

"An initial inspection of the gearbox in Charles Leclerc's car has not revealed any serious damage," said the Maranello outfit in a brief statement.

"Further checks will be carried out tomorrow, to decide if the same gearbox can be used in the race."

Check out our Saturday gallery from Monaco, here.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by aroutis, 23/05/2021 4:43

"People that believe that a driver running for pole would crash their car the way Charles crashed yesterday, clearly have no understanding of F1.
Or maybe, they need to just watch (again, and again) the footage of that crash to understand how it happened.
The driver was running for a fast lap and this was a clear driver error. The end really.
Is this going to cost him? Verdict comes out later as everyone is waiting the final decision on the gear box.
But on a serious note, if someone wanted to "crash" in order to "secure" the position (which btw, Ferrari had no need to do so, since clearly they had the pace), there were easier ways to do so."

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2. Posted by kenji, 22/05/2021 23:38

"@Kkiirmki....Exactly. These comments were expected as a result of the GOAT temporarily misplacing a few items of his extensive wardrobe. I must admit however that i experienced a modicum of schadenfreude when watching Wolff being interviewed...one unhappy dude and it showed. We race as one...when we're winning."

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3. Posted by kenji, 22/05/2021 23:03

"@SLR....'and of course Elvis is not dead either' !!!"

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4. Posted by Kkiirmki, 22/05/2021 23:00

"Well, if the Sky team say's so, then it must be true. And as for other idiotic and completely wrong statements...

"

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5. Posted by @R1Racing71, 22/05/2021 20:46

"Reading between the lines, the sky team seem to think he crashed on purpose?"

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6. Posted by SexyLadyRacer, 22/05/2021 20:34

"It's difficult to prove, but it's not impossible to prove if the stewards and the FIA wishes to, but imo I definitely believe that Charles Leclerc crashed deliberately to secure the Pole position for himself at Monaco! Yes, I believe Charles Leclerc cheated!
However, I doubt that the stewards nor the FIA would want to look at it though because the fans are happy to have another driver of another team take Pole, which of course, is great for F1!

To me, how Leclerc took Pole position here at Monaco is quite similar to how Leclerc took Pole position at the Italian GP in Monza 2019, when he deliberately messed up all his contenders' final Q3 lap, particularly Sebastian Vettel's final Q3 lap, to ensure that he got Pole position in Monza, Ferrari’s home race, and Charles went on to win the race, giving himself a somewhat legendary status in the Ferrari team and the Tifosi!
Imo Charles Leclerc has done the same here at Monaco hoping to achieve the same results at his own home race!

Just like Nico Rosberg done a similar deliberate thing in Q3 at Monaco, only Charles Leclerc knows what he's done, and just like Rosberg, Leclerc is quite happy about what he's done, and he won't be admitting anything!
Personally, I didn't like what Leclerc did in Monza 2019, and I don't like what he did in Monaco 2021! "

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7. Posted by habentsen, 22/05/2021 19:09

"Fingers crossed. So nice for the sport to see Ferrari up there again."

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"No serious damage" to Leclerc's gearbox

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