Charles Leclerc already knows a grid penalty is inevitable at some point this season as a result of his engine failure in Bahrain.
The Monegasque was enjoying a tidy race and looked the most likely to secure a spot on the podium. But an engine failure forced him to pull over at the side of the track and, to make matters worse for Ferrari, Carlos Sainz was beaten to third place by the charging Fernando Alonso.
The DNF was a double blow to Leclerc as well, because of what apparently caused it. Italian news outlet Formu1a.uno reports: "When Leclerc's car was disassembled and checked, the reason for the Monegasque's retirement was found in the ERS battery pack."
Prior to the race in Bahrain, Ferrari had changed the control electronics and the energy store in Leclerc's engine after discovering an abnormality overnight. But clearly that move did not prevent the ERS failure.
It is understood that the new energy store and control electronics fitted to the car cannot be recovered as a result of the engine failure. As only two of each are allowed for each driver per season, Leclerc now has only one of each to use for the remaining 22 races.
That is not feasible, and he will no doubt be forced to use at least one more of each at some point this year. Doing so will incur a grid penalty under the current rules around engine components.
It is far from an ideal situation for Ferrari, and new team principal Frederic Vasseur admitted after the race that it had come as a surprise. "We never expected to have something like this because it's the first time that we had it," said the Frenchman.
"We didn't face the same issue at all during the six or seven thousand kilometres that we did with the engines last week with the three teams. And we never had the same issue on the dyno throughout the winter. But again, we need to do a full investigation before to be able to give you a proper answer."
Ahead of Alonso on the Bahrain podium were the two Red Bulls, with Max Verstappen winning the race comfortably over Sergio Perez. It means Ferrari are already 31 points behind in the constructors' standings, with Aston Martin and Mercedes between them and the front-runners.
