Official: Sainz will start from the bottom of the grid in France

It’s an open secret. Ferrari wants to keep this letter until this Saturday “so as not to give hints” to Red Bull, as Marc Gené acknowledged on ‘DAZN F1’ on Friday. But both from Milton Keynes and throughout the paddock it is clear that the Italians will make a decision that was confirmed this Saturday: Carlos Sainz has changed his entire power unit and will start from the bottom of the grid at the French GP in F1 2022. He will need to return to a circuit where he was fastest on Friday, where without this penalty he could aim for his second pole position and fight for everything. But now, the Spaniard needs to focus on climbing as many places as possible to minimize his World Cup defeat.

It remains to be seen whether Sainz will start last or penultimate, as it will depend on the position he will achieve in the classification with respect to Kevin Magnussen (Haas), who was also penalized for changing the power unit.

This decision to replace the entire engine was just one bad consequence of the disaster in Austria, a fire in his car when he finished second in a calm manner. That abandonment left him 75 points behind the lead and also knowing he had lost an engine with many kilometers to go.

Ferrari planned to change Carlos’ engine at Spa-Francorchamps, when he returned from vacation, because the Italian team had to introduce a final engine evolution there before the engine freeze (it has been partially since March ) was completed at the end of August. However, he had to punish two Grands Prix then, in France, which theoretically should also harm him in this sense, because it would not pay to punish him again at Spa. You will have to extend the life of this engine and mount a new one, with more features, later than the Leclerc can.