Vasseur: Ferrari blindsided by Leclerc engine woe

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has conceded there was no indication the team would experience power unit troubles at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Charles Leclerc retired from the F1 season opener in the closing stages after a failure left him stranded at the side of the circuit on the exit of turn 13.

This came after the Monégasque's SF-23 had its energy store changed ahead of the race, the second of two allowed for the season fitted following anomalous parameters being spotted by the Scuderia on the Sunday morning.

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Asked if there was any suspicion that there could be reliability issues when racing got underway, Vasseur replied: “We never expected to have something like this because it is the first time that we had it.

"We didn’t face the same issue at all during the 6,000-7,000km that we did with the engine in testing with the three teams [Alfa Romeo and Haas also run Ferrari power units].

"We also didn’t have the issue on the dyno over the winter."

No panic at Ferrari

“It’s never good to start with a DNF and I would have preferred to finish like Red Bull before," added Vasseur.

"But now that I want to stay consistent in my position, I told the team before testing in Bahrain that the championship won’t be over in Bahrain. It doesn’t matter about the result.

“It was true for the winter test, it was true for this weekend, but the team experienced the opposite situation in the past.

“The most important thing now is for us to be able to have a clear picture of the situation, where we are failing, and to do a proper analysis on this and come back stronger as soon as possible.”

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