Ferrari reveal Leclerc damage after drain cover impact

Ferrari have revealed that they were forced to replace Charles Leclerc's floor thanks to the impact which caused a red flag on Thursday morning's testing session.

After getting a single session under his belt on Wednesday, setting the seventh fastest time overall and completing 64 laps, Leclerc headed back to the track for Thursday's first session.

Leclerc set the pace during the morning session, banking a 1:31.750, over half a second quicker than McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Williams' Logan Sargeant.

But the morning session ended early after a drain cover came loose at Turn 11, with Leclerc and his future Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton running over it before the red flag came out.

READ MORE: F1 Testing Results: Session CANCELLED after Leclerc disaster

The red flag that ended the morning session has caused the second day’s schedule to be reshuffled, with the afternoon session now taking place at 14:00 Bahrain time rather than 15:00.

The teams will now get five hours of running, with the session beginning in the daytime and ending at night.

During the extended lunch break, Ferrari’s mechanics got to work and replaced Leclerc’s floor, getting the Monegasque out in time for the afternoon session. "Following Charles' accident this morning when he drove over a drain cover, the floor was damaged, and we have now changed it," confirmed a Ferrari spokesperson.

This isn’t the first time Ferrari has had a car damaged by a part of the circuit. Leclerc’s current Ferrari teammate, Carlos Sainz, had his car destroyed during FP1 for the Las Vegas Grand Prix after also running over a manhole cover.

READ MORE: F1 Schedule 2024: Full calendar with all you need to know about every grand prix

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