Charles Leclerc may be facing a grid penalty early in the Formula 1 season for losing one of his two energy stores in Bahrain. However, Ferrari appear to be able to delay the penalty for a while, meaning the Monegasque will not have to take ten places as early as the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix.

'Ferrari may delay early grid penalty until after Saudi Arabia GP' - GPblog

Leclerc started the Bahrain Grand Prix with a new energy store, after the team decided to replace it as a precautionary measure. However, during the race, the part still broke down. The energy store used during the race was not salvageable, but the part that was replaced after qualifying would presumably be able to be repaired. So reports the Italian edition of Motorsport.com.

After internal investigation, Ferrari is also said to have identified what caused the fault: the wiring harness is said to have failed because the housing was improperly attached, meaning it was not calculated to cope with the many bumps on the Bahrain International Circuit. There would have been no human error in replacing the energy store prior to the race.

The finding is a stroke of luck for Ferrari, which otherwise could have already seen Leclerc incur a ten-place grid penalty at the next race in Jeddah. So for now, the Italian racing stable seems to be able to avoid this.

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