Power units: Red Bull to compete with fresh engines in Silverstone
With only ten rounds completed in the 22-race 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship, some drivers are slowly getting on the verge of exceeding their allocation of power units as several of them have received fresh PU elements for the British Grand Prix. F1Technical's senior writer Balázs Szabó analyses the engine situation ahead of the Silverstone race.
The current generation of F1 power units features seven different elements: the internal combustion engine (ICE), motor generator unit-heat (MGU-H), motor generator unit-kinetic (MGU-K), turbocharger, energy store (ES), control electronics (CE) and exhaust.
Over the course of the 2023 season, a driver may use no more than four ICEs, MGU-Hs, MGU-Ks and turbochargers.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez have received a fresh internal combustion engine for the Silverstone race weekend just as did George Russell, Nico Hulkenberg and Nyck de Vries. While the German has now no more new engines for the 2023 F1 season, his rivals still have one more fresh unit to add to their pool for the remaining 11 races.
The same drivers have also received a fresh turbocharger and motor generator unit – heat and a new exhaust system for the 74th British Grand Prix.
Verstappen, Perez, Russell and de Vries have also got a new motor generator unit – kinetic while Ferrari announced on Saturday morning that they also equipped Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz’s car with a new MGU-K.
As for the gearbox units, Lance Stroll, Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg have started the British Grand Prix weekend with a fresh gearbox cassette and gearbox driveline & auxiliary components.
With drivers having an allocation of four gearbox cassettes and internals for the entire season, the Canadian and the Mexican still have one more fresh unit for the remainder of the season while it was the ultimate fresh component for the German racer.
