Technical report from Monza

F1 Grand Prix, GP Italy, Autodromo Nazionale di Monza

Formula One touched down in Italy for this weekend to host its 13th station of the 2017 Championship on the high-speed circuit of Monza. F1technical.net’s Balazs Szabo is in Monza to bring you the latest news.

Sebastian Vettel, Sergio Perez, Esteban Ocon, Felipe Massa, Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo all got new gearboxes installed into their cars for the Italian GP. THe first four drivers completed the previous six consecutive events with the same gearboxes, so they were entitled to use new units.

Max Verstappen did not complete six consecutive races with the same gearbox, but his retirement from the previous Grand Prix meant he had opportunity to swap his previous one for a fresh unit.

Daniel Ricciardo’s gearbox change was before the six consecutive events expired which meant a five-place grid penalty. Red Bull’s decision was based on the fact that the Australian was handed a 20-place grid penalty for multiple power unit element changes.

Red Bull Racing decided to sacrifice the qualifying session for Italian’s GP to fill up its pool of power units. The energy drink owned team was aware of its chances on the power sensitive Monza race track where its underpowered Renault power unit were always going to set limitation to its competitiveness.

In a bid to increase its chances in the remainder of the season and try to avoid possible penalties on tracks which should suit the RB13 better, Red Bull installed new power unit elements in both Daniel Ricciardo’s and Max Verstappen’s car which exceeded their allocation for the 2017 season.

Max Verstappen got a new internal combustion engine and a new MGU-H element. Both of them are parts of his fifth power unit which triggered a grid drop of 15 places.
Daniel Ricciardo started using his fifth turbo charger, his fifth internal combustion engine and his sixth MGU-H. The three component meant a grip penalty of 20 places.

The reigning world champion team tried out a new, extremely low-downforce front wing during Friday practices, but decided to revert to a more conventional solution.
Monza is the fastest track on the calendar with its never-ending straights. As there is only one corner where drivers reach speeds above 250kph, engineers can trim wings down. However, heavy braking zones require good stability under the braking action, that is why teams made only minor changes to the front wing.