22/07/2022
NEWS STORY
Ferrari is considering whether to add a new power unit to Carlos Sainz' pool, thereby incurring a grid penalty for this weekend's French Grand Prix.
The Spaniard retired from the Austrian race following a spectacular failure which left his car engulfed in flames, the Ferrari driver's fourth DNF of the season.
Having already reached his maximum number of allowed components from the moment his V6 detonated at the Red Bull Ring it was clear an engine penalty was inevitable and Ferrari may well opt to take the hit this weekend.
The Maranello outfit faced a similar dilemma in Canada with Charles Leclerc, opting to take the penalty and thereby add another unit to the Monegasque's pool.
"It's still under evaluation, we are still looking at all the available options," said Sainz when asked if his team was considering the move. "We also need to see a bit how the overtaking is here, how everything comes into play, you know with the heat, the tyres and we will take a decision but obviously there is a chance it will happen.
Of course, reliability has been Ferrari's Achilles heel this season, and the high temperatures expected this weekend have done nothing to alleviate the Maranello outfit's concerns.
However, like a number of its rivals Ferrari is taking precautions to ensure that the heat doesn't compromise its efforts.
"The high temperatures predicted for the weekend mean that ensuring the power unit and the tyres perform at their best is a real challenge," admits Diego Tondi, the team's head of development, "and it's up to those working on the aerodynamics to take the appropriate countermeasures.
"We will use a medium-high level of bodywork cooling, using the apertures of the cooling gills on the upper part of the bodywork and we will work on the brake ducts to maximise rim cooling, with the aim of getting heat away from the tyres," he explains.
"The track characteristics mean that we would have been doing this anyway to contribute as much as possible to tyre management, but the hot conditions will make this task even more demanding.
"As for the brakes, there are no particularly heavy braking points, so in terms of cooling for these components, the race at Paul Ricard is not a concern."
Paul Ricard has proved to be a bit of a bogey track for Ferrari, particularly in terms of tyre wear, but Leclerc is confident that this won't be an issue this year.
"We struggled quite a bit last year and the year before too," he admits, "but this year, different cars, different conditions..
"We'll take particular care of the tyres, we'll use these free practices to make sure we don't have the same issue as the last two years but I'm sure that we will be competitive.
"I've got a much better feeling than the one I had coming into Austria," he adds. "We've had a very positive weekend there and we just need to keep the focus, that level of performance."
Check out our Friday gallery from Le Castellet here.