Revealed: The cause of Leclerc’s Bahrain failure | No link to 2022 issues

Leclerc’s Bahrain GP ended prematurely on Lap 40 after an engine-related issue caused him to retire from the race.

Things weren’t looking good for Ferrari ahead of the grand prix as they were forced to change Leclerc’s control electronics and energy store components after inspecting the data from his power unit.

Despite the changes, it didn’t stop the failure which cost Leclerc a likely podium finish behind Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.

In a report by formu1a.uno, his DNF was caused by an ES (energy store) and control unit failure, and these parts cannot be recovered. 

• 'No power, no power!' Leclerc explains Bahrain GP retirement

With only two energy store elements allowed during the entire season, Leclerc is set for a grid penalty at some point in 2023.

If the ES that was changed ahead of the race is also not fit to use again, Leclerc could even be faced with a penalty for next weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. 

In the same report, it is understood that the issues that plagued Leclerc are not linked to last year’s engine failures.

Speaking after the race on Sunday, team boss Frederic Vasseur admitted Ferrari “never expected” it.

“We never expected to have something like this because it’s the first time that we had it,” Vasseur said.

“We didn’t face the same issue at all during the six or seven thousand kilometres that we did with the engines last week with the three teams. And we never had the same issue on the dyno throughout the winter.

“But again, we need to do a full investigation before to be able to give you a proper answer.”