F1 News: Charles Leclerc takes grid penalty at US GP as Ferrari tests 2023 engine
Max Verstappen has taken the 2022 championship by storm with solid performance throughout the F1 season. And at Honda's home track in Japan, Suzuka Circuit, the Belgian driver confirmed his name as champion with him now being uncatchable by Ferrari rival Charles Leclerc.
Now, it looks as though Ferrari is using what's left of this year to prepare for 2023 with it being announced that the Monegasque will be taking a 5-place grid penalty at the United States Grand Prix. Stemming from Ferrari replacing his F1-75's engine, even more interesting news has come from this.
According to Motorsport.com Italy, Leclerc will be testing a new engine that has undergone modifications planned for the 2023 season, and will run this engine for the remaining four races. After plenty of Ferrari power unit failures this year, it's no surprise that the Italian team want to get this fix on the cards earlier rather than later.
Leclerc will be hoping this engine will be more reliable than his previous, while also giving him insight as to whether these modifications point the team in the right direction for next year.
Motorsport.com Italy has also reported that the FIA has approved of this 'test phase' because it benefits the organisation itself, not only Ferrari. This descends from the fact that the engine's developments mainly comes in the shape of material changes to battle the issues current F1 engines are facing in regards to reliability. But with Ferrari previously forced to reduce the power their engine was creating, this could see a more potent machine this weekend if they're able to turn it back up.
Red Bull has shown significant performance so far this year after a shaky start, but if Ferrari is able to squeeze a little more from their Prancing Horses and with Red Bull confirming that they won't be upgrading their car again until 2023, we could have some serious racing on our hands.