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10-place grid penalty for Leclerc hits Ferrari title hopes
Ferrari’s chances of winning the Formula 1 constructors’ championship have taken a hit as Charles Leclerc will take a grid penalty at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Leclerc failed to run in the first part of FP1 due to a power unit issue, and Ferrari later confirmed it had needed to change his energy store to get him out on track. With that move Leclerc exceeded his maximum number of permitted components and as it’s the first time he has taken an item outside of his allocation, it carries a 10-place grid penalty.
Ferrari already faced a tall order to try and overhaul McLaren at the final race of the season, with the Scuderia trailing by 21 points with a maximum of 44 points available. Leclerc’s second place in the Qatar Grand Prix last weekend had closed the gap to less than a race victory.
Leclerc did finish the first practice session fastest overall at Yas Marina Circuit, having taken part in FP1 alongside his brother Arthur, who posted the 18th-fastest time.
Two other grid penalties have also been triggered by Williams, with both cars exceeding the maximum permitted number of gearbox components, leading to a five-place drop for each of Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto.
Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
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