“What the hell have you done?” Leclerc shocked by his DRS opening at turn 12

George Russell wasn’t the only driver whose DRS opened when it shouldn’t have done during the Bahrain Grand Prix. Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free The Ferrari driver initially thought something had gone wrong with his car. “What the hell have you done?” he demanded of race engineer Bryan Bozzi as soon as he reached the next straight.

Leclerc was unaware race control had given him and other drivers full manual control over their DRS due to the problem they had encountered with George Russell’s car. Ordinarily the system only allows drivers to use DRS inside the prescribed zones and when within a second of a car ahead, as laid down by the rules. Race control chose to override the automated system during the grand prix.

Drivers were still required to obey the rules of using DRS, as Bozzi told his driver: Race control switched to manual DRS operation for some cars due to a failure of the automated system for Russell’s car, which would have left him unable to use DRS. Russell was the next car ahead of Leclerc on the track and the pair were separated by less than two seconds at the time. Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free Leclerc did not have the opportunity to legitimately use DRS until one occasion after Lando Norris overtook him.

He then fell back out of DRS range and was told he could not use DRS again: Leclerc was not investigated for using DRS outside of the permitted area. Russell was, and Ferrari advised Leclerc to stay as close to him as he could in case the Mercedes driver received a penalty. Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free Although the stewards ruled Russell did use DRS when he should not have done, he was not penalised : Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free Get a daily email with all our latest stories - and nothing else.

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