Charles Leclerc set for Baku F1 grid penalty despite positive Ferrari engine news

Charles Leclerc’s engine from his Monza crash looks to be cleared to use again by Ferrari, but he is set for a grid penalty at Baku due to unsealing an additional unit.

The Monegasque driver suffered a heavy crash on the second lap of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, when he spun off at the Parabolica.

Over fears that the power unit - which was Ferrari’s updated ADUO2 version - was damaged in the crash, it was withdrawn from his allocation in last week’s Spanish Grand Prix.

As such, Charles Leclerc was down on power compared to team-mate Lewis Hamilton, and was outqualified by him, though the former led for much of the race before finishing fourth.

According to the Italian edition of Motorsport, however, further evaluation of the Monza engine has revealed no terminal damage to the unit.

Leclerc will be able to feed the engine back into his allocation for the rest of the season, though it is likely he will only use it for practice sessions at the upcoming Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

As such, Leclerc is set to take a fresh engine for the Baku race, which will see him drop to the back of the grid.

Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur told Canal+ during the Madrid weekend: “We’ll see when we have to take an engine penalty with Charles, but I think Baku should go quite well.”

Though a street circuit, the massive pit straight at Baku presents a good opportunity to overtake, making it an ideal place in the coming schedule of races for Leclerc to take an engine penalty.

Championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli took an engine penalty at the Italian Grand Prix, though the Mercedes driver was able to come from 19th on the grid to win his home race.

His Mercedes team-mate George Russell is expected to take a fresh engine and incur a penalty at some point in the coming races, though it’s not clear when.

Ferrari’s AUDO2 upgrade failed to provide a significant boost when it was introduced at Monza.

Leclerc qualified on the back of the second row in fourth, while team-mate Lewis Hamilton was fifth as Mercedes-powered cars locked out the top three.

At Madrid, Leclerc’s deficit to Hamilton in Q3 was just 0.006s and just under a tenth from third-placed Max Verstappen in the Red Bull.

Ferrari hasn’t been on the front row for a race since Hungary, when Hamilton was second behind McLaren’s Lando Norris. Leclerc was third.