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I have been fired up all week about the prospect of a showdown at the Formula 1 season finale — the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix — with McLaren and Ferrari battling out for the World Constructors’ Championship.  And while we’ll get that, things became way harder for the Scuderia thanks to a 10-place grid for Charles Leclerc after the team had to give his car a new energy store.

McLaren comes into the weekend with a 21-point lead — 640-619 — over Ferrari, giving them the edge going into the weekend, but Ferrari making up that kind of ground is far from unthinkable.

Especially after the first practice session, when Leclerc put his car at the top of the timesheet.

However, there was a problem, and not just that Leclerc later said that he was dealing with food poisoning during the session, in which he drove alongside his brother, Arthur.

There was an issue with Leclerc’s Ferrari that required installing a new energy store (which is part of the power unit’s hybrid system and does exactly what it sounds like it does). Unfortunately, you are only allowed two of those per season, and this will be Leclerc’s third, which results in a 10-place grid penalty.

So, even if Leclerc qualifies on pole — which is certainly possible — he’ll only start as high as P11 (barring any other goofiness that could happen between now and lights out on Sunday).

That’s a big problem. 

Obviously, he’ll be starting outside of the points, but it stands to reason that both McLarens and Leclerc’s Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz (in his final race with the team before he jumps over to Wiliams for testing next week) will be upfront. 

So, with Ferrari potentially outnumbered 2-1 up front, they’d be at a strategic disadvantage in the Grand Prix.

It’s not impossible to overtake in Abu Dhabi, but in his push to the front, Leclerc will likely encounter an Alpine, Haas, and/or RB. Those are the teams fighting for P6, P7, and P8 in the standings — each up the rankings earning them millions in prize money — so I don’t think they’re going to move aside easily and miss out on some points just because a Ferrari is trying to charge back to the front.

It’ll be a fascinating race already and we haven’t even seen qualifying.