Ferrari will use “short-term fix” for Sainz’s hydraulics failure in Canada

2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

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Following Ferrari’s double retirement in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the team has confirmed it will use a “short-term fix” for the problem which ended Carlos Sainz Jnr’s race.

Sainz was the first of their drivers to retire in Baku on Sunday, due to a sudden hydraulic failure on lap eight.

“Hydraulic components from Carlos’ car have already been examined,” Ferrari confirmed. “A short-term fix is in place for Canada, while work is on-going on mid/long-term solutions.”

Charles Leclerc retired 13 laps after his team mate, smoke billowing from the back of his F1-75 due to a power unit problem. It was his second retirement within three races.

Ferrari has now confirmed that the power unit Leclerc used in Baku, his second complete unit of the season, has been sent to Maranello for analysis at the factory. Therefore, Leclerc will either have to revert to his original power unit or make his final penalty-free power unit change this year.

Both drivers’ power units were initially changed ahead of the Miami Grand Prix, for Sainz, and the Spanish Grand Prix for Leclerc.

In an update today, Ferrari said that Leclerc’s Baku power unit will arrive at Maranello tomorrow and “an initial assessment should be completed by the evening.”

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2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

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Author information

Hazel Southwell
Hazel is a motorsport and automotive journalist with a particular interest in hybrid systems, electrification, batteries and new fuel technologies....

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9 comments on “Ferrari will use “short-term fix” for Sainz’s hydraulics failure in Canada”

  1. Nothing says reassuring like “short-term fix”

    1. @eljueta I can actually picture Ferrari mechanics putting speed tape around the hydraulic lines, AlphaTauri-DRS-style.

  2. Leclerc will either have to revert to his original power unit

    Wasn’t the power unit that failed the original one? I thought the one that failed in Barcelona was PU2 introduced at Miami.

    Considering the turbo and MGU-H was written off for PU2, there doesn’t seem to be any option but to switch to PU3.

    1. @f1g33k Surely they wouldn’t bring an old PU to Baku? With that 2 km flat out section.

      1. Really not sure. There are some blogs stating that Ferrari made a strategic error in going back to the older unit, whereas others mention that the second unit was used after the replacement of the turbo and MGU-H that failed in Barcelona.

        That both units were used during the weekend is clear, but not sure which one blew up.

  3. I’ve never been a Ferrari fan and remember after explaining F1 to my nephews some years ago that they summarised it as: “the red cars are the baddies and the grey cars are the goodies”.

    But I love Charles and Carlos and I’ve been cheering them on, it’s painful to watch the Ferraris drop out of races – especially given the potential positions they could have taken. And the Ferrari’s issues have cheated us of some of that championship tension/drama. The fragility of Ferrari can’t be good for their brand.

    I’m nervous about them reverting back to an old PU, penalties seem inevitable so just suck it up and whack a new PU in and hopefully finish a race with points and then have the next race with a fairly fresh unit in the car. But I suppose I’m no engineer, the Ferrari team know much more than me …and have the weight of Tifosi expectation on their shoulders.

    1. They want to fix the problem before they uses a new “spec” engine otherwise they get double penaulties.

      1. @macleod – see, I told you I’m no engineer!

        That makes sense, if they end up baking the same issues into an upgraded spec then they cause themselves (and other teams) more misery. I wasn’t sure how much PU development the teams were able to do this year, but I know that reliability and safety are always 2 areas that provide a bit of wiggle-room. If they can identify now and engineer out the issues for spec 2 then that is absolutely the sensible thing to do.

  4. Just to add – the photograph of the car is beautiful. The car itself is stunning. Usually I find the red Ferraris to be ruined by sponsor graphics or some ghastly colour combo/placement but this years car is stunning. If it were slow it might not look so pretty (it’s amazing how the psychology of power and success impact the aesthetics of a car) but it’s a bright red muscle on wheels – the live feeds know it too, they slowly pan across those sexy vents and sweep over those big fat curves. I love it.

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