Scuderia Ferrari Explain Reason Behind Long Pit Stops for Charles Leclerc
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During the 2020 Belgian Grand Prix, the Scuderia Ferrari team suffered a horrid race, as they lingered near the back. For Charles Leclerc, it was much worse, right from the pit stop phase. In the first round of stops, the Monegasque driver was stationary for nearly 10 seconds.
Ferrari: "As a precaution, we topped up pneumatic pressure on Charles’ engine during pit stop" #F1 #BelgianGP
— Luke Smith (@LukeSmithF1) August 30, 2020
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Later on, the car was stationary for around five seconds before he was finally sent on his way out. As it turned out, Leclerc and the team discovered an issue with the car’s air pressure. So, they had to top up the engine’s air valve at every stop, and that ate away precious seconds.
That was an engine air valve pressure top up for Leclerc at the pitstop.
— Gary Anderson (@GaryAndersonF1) August 30, 2020
How bad was the race for Charles Leclerc?
This was an absolutely humbling experience for the Italian giants. They have gone from winners in 2018 and 2019, to finishing outside the points in 2020.
Both drivers have tried their utmost to eke out the maximum performance from the SF1000. However, they were so woefully off-color that they were sitting ducks on the straights. Several drivers managed to outpace them, whether with DRS or without it.
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There were a number of jokes when Charles Leclerc got overtaken and the next man behind him was his teammate. When the ordeal was finally over and the team radioed the Monaco native, they were met with dead silence.
Their only solace? The engine air valve issue was not a race-threatening problem. Sure, it was a massive headache to fill it up at every pit stop, since precious seconds got wasted. However, the team was still glad that both cars lived to tell the tale.
There was also some small comfort that Sebastian Vettel did not report anything wrong with his own car. However, it was horribly embarrassing that the highest-placed Ferrari-powered car was Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen.
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Incidentally, Raikkonen is not only a former Ferrari driver but their last champion.
Listen: Charles Leclerc’s Stunned Radio Silence Following a Nightmare Belgian Grand Prix
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