Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc is reportedly set to avoid a grid penalty for this weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix after fears that he would be forced to take a new engine.

Ferrari have enjoyed their strongest season in some time in F1 2024, with Leclerc winning in Monaco, Italy and the United States and team-mate Carlos Sainz adding two victories in Australia and Mexico.

Charles Leclerc set to avoid Las Vegas Grand Prix grid penalty

The Scuderia, who remain without a World title of any kind since 2008, currently trail Constructors’ Championship leaders McLaren by 36 points ahead of the final three races in Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

Ferrari produced one of their strongest performances of the F1 2023 season at the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix, where Leclerc set pole position and finished a close second to Max Verstappen, having overtaken the sister Red Bull of Sergio Perez on the last corner of the last lap.

After the last race in Brazil, however, Leclerc raised concerns that he would have to serve a penalty for an engine change, potentially denying him another shot at victory at the challenging Nevada street course.

Charles Leclerc vs Carlos Sainz: Ferrari head-to-head stats for F1 2024

👉 F1 2024: Head-to-head qualifying record between team-mates

👉 F1 2024: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

He told DAZN Spain in Sao Paulo: “We’ll take the small positive from Brazil which is that we scored a few points and seeing how quick the McLarens were, to be ahead of both of them and only lose four points in the Constructors’ Championship has to be considered a pretty good day.

“In Las Vegas I hope we will be very strong and not have to take a penalty there.”

A report by Italian publication Auto Racer has claimed that Leclerc is poised to avoid a grid drop in Vegas, with a new power unit for the number 16 car not in Ferrari’s plans this weekend.

It is said that the wet conditions throughout the Brazilian GP weekend eased the strain on Leclerc’s engine, allowing Ferrari to persevere with rotating elements from his existing pool of power unit components.

The boost to Leclerc’s prospects for the Las Vegas GP comes after it emerged that Ferrari are expected to trial a new floor in practice in Nevada, with the experimental part set to inform the design of the team’s F1 2025 car, codenamed Project 677.

A number of design details related to Project 677 have surfaced over recent months, with Ferrari widely expected to follow Red Bull and McLaren by adopting a pushrod front suspension layout.

A change to the car’s wheelbase – effectively the distance between the front and rear wheels – is also on the horizon, as well as revisions to the internal parts of the gearbox.

Ferrari are also tipped to tweak the packaging of their cooling system, with changes planned to give the aerodynamic department a greater degree of freedom, particularly in the lower section of the sidepods.

However, the Scuderia are expected to stick with their unusual pullrod rear suspension despite former technical director Enrico Cardile’s switch to Aston Martin.

Ferrari’s suspension choices under Cardile have been heavily scrutinised throughout the ground-effect era, with the Prancing Horse and customer outfit Haas the only teams to remain with a pullrod rear suspension.

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