Technical: Ferrari drivers set to race with fresh engines in Monza

There is a host of drivers to race with fresh power unit elements at Sunday's Italian Grand Prix, including pole sitter Carlos Sainz and his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc. F1Technical's senior writer Balázs Szabó reports from the Monza paddock.

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. Furthermore, drivers are restricted to two energy stores and control electronics, and eight of each of the four elements that make up a set of exhaust systems (comprising primaries left-hand side, primaries right-hand side, secondary LHS and secondary RHS).

With Monza being one of the most demanding circuits in terms of the power unit, teams usually install fresh power unit elements at the Italian Grand Prix. In truth, Spa also used to serve as a venue for fresh engines when the Belgian Grand Prix preceded the Monza round in the past.

A total of six drivers have received fresh internal combustion engines for the Monza race, including the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, the AlphaTauri driver pair of Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda, Mercedes racer George Russell and Alfa Romeo driver Valtteri Bottas. These six drivers have also received a new motor genetor unit – kinetic.

A new turbocharger and a fresh motor generator unit – heat have been installed in to the car of Leclerc, Sainz, Russell, Lawson, Tsunoda, Bottas and Alpine driver Esteban Ocon.

With the changes, all drivers started to used their last permitted ICE, MGU-H, MGU-K and turbocharger.

The Ferrari and the AlphaTauri duos and Bottas have also received a new exhaust system.

Sergio Perez had a last-minute scare as he needed a pre-qualifying Honda engine change after an oil leak in final practice.

In the technical regulations, gearbox units are referred to as restricted-number components. These elements involve the gearbox case and cassette, and the gearbox driveline, gear change components and auxiliary components.

As far as the maximum number of gearboxes are concerned, teams must bear in mind that gearbox units are split into two parts as per the sporting regulations.

Over the course of the 2023 F1 season, drivers have to get around with an allocation of four gearbox cassettes & cases and four driverlines, gear change components and auxiliary components.

For the Italian Grand Prix, three drivers have received fresh gearbox units. Russell, Fernando Alonso and Sainz are all competing with a brand-new gearbox, albeit their allocation look significantly different after 13 rounds.

The Spaniard had already used three gearbox units this year and this fresh one puts him on his last permitted one. Considering also his power unit situation, he may receive additional gearbox components and power unit elements in a later round – possibly in Austin – which would send him to the back of the grid, but it is something Ferrari has already made previously.

For the Mercedes and the Aston Martin driver, the situation looks much better as they had only used two gearboxes before receiving their third one in Monza. It means that they could easily complete the remaining leg of the season with their Monza and their fourth fresh gearbox.