The 2024 Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship will be decided in the season’s final race, this weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Only two teams remain in the hunt, McLaren and Ferrari, and McLaren has a 21-point lead over Ferrari going into the final weekend of the season. While that gives the Woking-based team the advantage, Ferrari still has a few pathways to victory, many of which begin with either Charles Leclerc or Carlos Sainz Jr. winning this weekend.
Things just got a little tougher for one of those drivers.
Ahead of this weekend’s race, Ferrari announced that the team installed a new Energy Store (ES) on Leclerc’s SF-24. This is the third such component used by Leclerc this season, over the two allowed under the rules each year. That came after Leclerc was stuck in the garage during the early portion of Friday’s first practice session as Yas Marina, as the team dealt with a suspected battery issue. He was finally able to take the track — making some F1 history as his brother was driving in FP1 in place of Sainz, marking the first time a pair of brothers participated in an F1 session as teammates — but the change required the new component.
As such, Leclerc will take a ten-place grid penalty in Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, meaning the highest he can start on the grid is in P11, and only if he takes pole position in Saturday’s qualifying session. Under Article 28.2 of the Sporting Regulations, a ten-place penalty is issued the first time a driver exceeds the allowed number of a given component in the season.
However, given that Leclerc topped the timing sheets in FP1, pole position could be on the table for him.
