F1 | Ferrari, Binotto confirms: Leclerc will have a new engine in Brazil

For the penultimate Grand Prix of the season in Brazil, Charles Leclerc will have a new engine at his disposal. This was directly confirmed by the Ferrari team principal, Mattia Binotto, who in the usual preview of the weekend analyzed the performance of his single-seaters in the United States and anticipated the replacement of the Power Unit on the car of number 16, who will thus be forced to go to penalty.

“We arrive at the penultimate Grand Prix of the season after the frustrating race in Austin in which we were unable to bring home the result we felt we could achieve. On Saturday with Sebastian we missed the seventh consecutive pole position by just one hundredth, but at least we had confirmation that in terms of performance we were competitive as always" – commented Binotto, analyzing the performance of the two SF90s in the last round in Texas , where Ferrari only came home with a fourth place -. “On Sunday, Charles' race pace in the first stint was mediocre, although his car's performance returned to normal after the first pit stop. With him we will try to put everything behind us and start again from Brazil."

Leclerc will therefore be forced to start with a grid penalty for the Brazilian round, the first of the season. The Maranello technicians opted for this choice following the damage to the PU spec 3 during the third free practice session of the United States GP, so it was then decided to fit an old unit for the rest of the weekend: “Charles he will be able to have a new Power Unit since his was damaged on Saturday in Austin and this forced him to fit a used and less powerful unit for the rest of the weekend. Equipping his SF90 with a new Power Unit means taking grid penalties, but at least in Sao Paulo we expect to return to the usual performance levels and be able to fight with a fighting spirit to finish the season on a high note. This will be important to seek confirmation that we are making progress with our car and to try to carry this form into the winter break. I know that our drivers and the whole team are absolutely focused on this,” added Binotto.