Räikkönen and Massa’s engine problems are connected!

Ferrari believes that the engine failure which led to Kimi Räikkönen’s retirement during the European Grand Prix may have been caused by the same issues that sidelined Massa in Hungary.

The initial analysis by Scuderia confirmed that it was a rod issue, exactly the same problem that Massa encountered at the Hungaroring.

A more thorough examination of the engine is now underway at the Maranello factory to truly understand the origin of this incident.

According to a statement from Ferrari, the team is wary of Räikkönen’s engine because everyone still remembers what happened to Massa.

The engineers are aware of a potential risk with the 056 engine mounted on Kimi’s car, which was being used for the second time after the Budapest race. Furthermore, the rods were part of the same batch as those used on Felipe’s engine.

An engine modification on Kimi Räikkönen’s car before the start of the Grand Prix would have penalized him by ten places, and everyone knows the difficulties of overtaking during a race on a street circuit to climb back into the top 8.

Räikkönen has already used his ‘joker’ for an engine change since the start of the season when the team at Silverstone decided to replace it after observing a problem during the French Grand Prix.