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Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur claimed that Charles Leclerc wasn't demotivated after getting a 10-place grid penalty for the 2023 F1 Saudi Arabian GP. The Monagasque received the penalty since his car will use a third control electronics unit in the upcoming race, which is one too many according to the regulations.
Speaking to RacingNews365.com, Vasseur admitted that this wasn't good news for the Saudi Arabian GP, but that it was too early to be demotivated. He strongly believes that Charles Leclerc is still keeping his head up and working hard with the team to tackle the upcoming race weekend in the best way possible. The Ferrari team boss stated:
"It's [Jeddah penalty] not good news, but it's not also not the end of the season. Let's see what happens in Jeddah and what could be the outcome of the of the event is even with the penalty. But don't imagine for a secondehe [Charles Leclerc] could be demotivated for something like this. He's pretty convinced, he's working with us, pushing the team, pushing everybody in a positive way."
Vasseur stated that Charles Leclerc wasn't too demoralized after retiring from the race in Bahrain, and that he's still motivated after getting a 10-place grid penalty for the Saudi Arabian GP:
"The view is that Charles is motivated, it's one bad race out of 23, but he's motivated. He's pushing with the team trying to get the best from everybody."
Despite Vasseur's claims that Leclerc is determined to improve and perform well, the massive penalty has most likely shaken the driver's composure to some extent. The Monagasque had already suffered quite a lot back in 2022 due to his own errors and Ferrari's unfortunate mishaps.
Ferrari undergoing 'deep analysis' after two ECU failures in Charles Leclerc's SF-23 in Bahrain GP
Charles Leclerc recently received a 10-place grid penalty for the 2023 F1 Saudi Arabian GP since his car will be fitted with a new control unit (ECU) for the third time. Speaking to the media, team boss Frederic Vasseur revealed that the part was changed twice on the day of the Bahrain GP, once in the morning and once right after the race:
"On Sunday, we had two different issues. The first one was on the Sunday morning, when we did the fire up, and the second one was in the race. Unfortunately, it was two times the control unit, the ECU."
He further added:
"It’s something that we never experienced in the past. I hope now it’s under control, but we have a deep analysis on this. Unfortunately, we’ll have to take the penalty in Jeddah, because we have only a pool of two control units for the season."
Charles Leclerc will have to perform exceptionally well in qualifying to lessen the blow of the grid penalty that he'll have to serve during the race.
