Franco Colapinto, Alex Albon and, critically, Charles Leclerc are in line for grid penalties at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Leclerc’s running in FP1 alongside his brother, Arthur, was limited as the Ferrari engineers toiled away at a problem with his SF-24 machine. As a result, the Monegasque racer has taken a new energy store, and therefore a 10-place grid penalty for Sunday’s race.
This is a disaster for Ferrari’s hopes of securing the Constructors’ Championship title. They trail McLaren by 21 points heading into the weekend and will need both Leclerc and Carlos Sainz fighting at the front to have a chance of beating the Woking squad to the crown.
Leclerc isn’t the only driver facing a grid penalty. Both Williams drivers will be starting five places further back after the Grove-based team fixed new gearboxes to their FW46 machines.
Colapinto will be desperate to register a strong result in what could be his final F1 start. The Argentinian racer made an immediate impression, scoring points in two of his first four Grands Prix.
However, since then Colapinto’s form has taken a hit, and retirements in Brazil and Qatar have limited his impact in Williams’ Constructors’ Championship battle. The 21-year-old’s hopes for a full-time drive in 2025 now rest solely with a VCARB seat, but Isack Hadjar is also in that conversation.
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