There is a hope. Indeed, perhaps something more than a hope: a control unit went black-out causing Charles Leclerc to retire during the Bahrain GP, but the other, the one that was replaced as a precaution on Sunday morning, could have survived.
The Cavallino electronics are carrying out a functional check to ensure that the first CE can return to action and is subjected to a series of work cycles to find out if all the strategies are regularly active.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-23
Photo by: Ferrari
After a very disappointing race weekend, the Gestione Sportiva was looking for a foothold to look to the future with a bit of optimism and the news that Leclerc might not be penalized as early as the second Grand Prix of the season is reviving the shaken morale of the troop.
Not having to give up positions on the grid would be a nice breath of fresh air for the Ferraristi. The Reparto Corse technicians were able to identify the wiring on the SF-23 #16 which went into crisis causing damage to a battery and at least to an electronic control unit.
The electrical system literally went haywire due to the fastening of the inadequate wiring to the efforts it was subjected to on the Sakhir bumps. The problem has been identified and resolved: therefore, there was no human error Sunday morning in the frenetic replacement of the battery and control unit.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-23, retired due to an electrical problem
It follows that there was something that was not in a workmanlike manner in the packaging between the frame and the engine. An alarm signal that is amplified by the other sudden failures that have hit the SF-23 in Bahrain.
How can we forget the more loaded rear wing that was unable to complete a few laps without serious problems. He had been pulled out on the final day of pre-season testing, but vanished almost immediately due to the DRS loss of leadership. Since he was in a one-of-a-kind model, he wasn’t replaced by a spare, but forced the mechanics to reassemble the weaker wing that made its debut last year in Canada.
Ferrari SF-23: the unloaded rear wing with the double pylon
Photo by: George Piola
Ferrari SF-23: the most loaded rear wing and with the mono-pylon that has given way
Photo by: George Piola
Fixed the control of the mobile wing, the wing with the single pylon was reintroduced in the first free practice session of the Bahrain GP. And, this time, it was the single pylon that broke, showing a main profile that swayed sideways in a worrying and dangerous way.
The second stop came immediately. Result: the wing that had been instrumented to collect the required data from home was definitively shelved. It is surprising that a top team like Ferrari also had to deal with a detail that detached from Leclerc’s red (always and only him!) at the start of Q1, when the lower part of the carbon cover that partially fairs the front wheel broke.
Three problems, three structural failures: what’s going on? The reds have always passed for being very solid and robust single-seaters. The F1-23 in the run-up to lightening is paying a price that has probably already cost a withdrawal. Will they have understood the lesson in Maranello?
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