Charles Leclerc has revealed that Ferrari is yet to determine whether the upgraded power unit damaged during his Italian Grand Prix crash can be repaired, leaving the door open to a possible grid penalty later in the season.

The Monegasque driver had an ADUO-improved Ferrari power unit installed for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, but he never got the chance to run it competitively after crashing heavily at the Parabolica corner early in the race. The impact, which subjected Leclerc to a reported 60G of force, ended his weekend and forced Ferrari to pull the unit from the car. An older-specification engine was fitted in its place for last weekend's race at the newly introduced MADring circuit.

Speaking to media, Leclerc offered a brief and guarded update on the situation, making clear that no firm conclusion has been reached. "For now, of what I know, they're still checking it; we'll see," he said. "I mean, I don't know yet. If we manage to save it, then that's great. If not, then probably that's a penalty at some point."

Beyond the immediate reliability concern, Leclerc used the opportunity to highlight what he considers a more fundamental shortcoming in Ferrari's current package — a persistent gap between the team's qualifying and race performance. He suggested that while the car is strong across a full stint, it struggles to extract similar pace over a single flying lap.

"For sure, I think our car is a strong race car, but we just need to try and understand how to unlock more performance in qualifying," Leclerc explained. He linked the issue specifically to how the power unit manages energy deployment, contrasting the demands of a qualifying lap with those of a race. "We know that deployment is even more of a struggle, I feel, on a Saturday than on a Sunday, and for that, we don't have any quick fixes," he admitted, signaling that Ferrari does not view this as something solvable through a single upgrade.

Still, he stressed that even small improvements would carry weight. "But whatever we can do to try and gain a bit of performance on the Saturday would be very helpful for our race result," he added.

Together, Leclerc's comments paint a picture of a team confident in its race-day competitiveness but still hunting for answers in qualifying trim — a challenge that, combined with the uncertainty over the Monza power unit, could complicate Ferrari's efforts to turn strong Sunday pace into results.

Source: Motorsport Week

Before this, we covered: Steve McQueen's Wrecked-and-Loved Ferrari NART Spider Chases $20 Million at New York Auction