22/05/2021
NEWS STORY
According to Ferrari, initial inspection of Charles Leclerc's gearbox reveals "no serious damage".
The news follows today's qualifying session in which the Monegasque claimed provisional pole before subsequently crashing, meaning that nobody else could improve on his time.
However, such was the impact of the incident at the Swimming Pool exit that there were fears the SF21 had incurred gearbox damage, which would have resulted in a new gearbox and a grid penalty.
While racing director, Laurent Mekies admitted that there was a "sword of Damocles hanging over the result", team boss, Mattia Binotto was adamant that the team wouldn't take any risks if uncertain of the condition of the unit.
"We will not gamble," said the Italian. "For us what's important after such a qualifying is to try to maximise the number of points for the championship, and obviously to maximise we need to finish the race. So reliability is key, reliability remains the priority. If we have any doubts, we will certainly change and fix it."
"I'm just waiting for the gearbox and that's it," admitted Leclerc. "For now, I can't enjoy as I would like to."
However, this evening Ferrari revealed that initial checks had shown no significant damage.
"An initial inspection of the gearbox in Charles Leclerc's car has not revealed any serious damage," said the Maranello outfit in a brief statement.
"Further checks will be carried out tomorrow, to decide if the same gearbox can be used in the race."
Check out our Saturday gallery from Monaco, here.