How could it be otherwise, especially after the ‘bonfire’ that he starred in the last Austrian GP, Carlos Sainz had no choice but to equip new components of his power unit, thus exceeding the permitted limit.
That Carlos Sainz was going to have to penalize before the end of the 2022 season for using more elements in his power unit than those allowed by the FIA in the regulations it was clearand in the first grand prix after passing the halfway point of the year Ferrari has confirmed it for him.
Following in the footsteps of teammate Charles Leclerc, who has already been pushed back on the grid by similar problems to the #55 and has experienced accelerator pedal problems both in the Red Bull Ring and in Paul Ricard, Sainz has proceeded to release his particular penalty locker.
Now or never
In the usual announcement issued by the FIA shortly after the first free practice session of each racing weekend begins, the governing body of Formula 1 has announced that Sainz rides a 2nd battery unitpermitted by the regulations, but also a 3rd switchboard with which the Madrilenian already incurs a sanction of 10 positions.
The engine of the Spanish Ferrari driver was completely destroyed in the final laps of the Austrian GP, when, proceeding to overtake Verstappen to confirm a one-two finish for a really strong Scuderia on the circuit owned by the energy drink team, the engine from his F1-75 It caught fire without him being able to do anything to fix it other than parking at forced marches so that the marshals decided to use a fire extinguisher that arrived quite late.
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Still have to wait for the day of the Saturday to reliably check whether the Maranello line-up will also choose to equip Sainz with a new combustion engine, a logical move since in Hungary, the next Grand Prix, the chances of overtaking are reduced exponentially due to the characteristics of a circuit much narrower and with protections even closer to the asphalt.
Ferrari has a powerful engine but still has dubious reliability, a situation that Sainz seems not bother you at allsince before arriving in France he confessed that he prefers to have such an engine than “a reliable but not very powerful one”.
For now, engine development is partially frozenso Ferrari is still free to introduce new parts like the MGU-H or MGU-K, although they will never receive a refusal from the FIA (theoretically) if they decide to bring an update for reliability.