After an unplanned engine change in Imola, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc has already used three power units in the opening part of the 2024 F1 season, meaning that he needs to apply a careful approach if he wants to avoid a potential grid penalty.

Power units

For the 11th year running, the 2024 F1 cars are powered by V6 hybrid turbo power units with 1.6-litre engines. This season represents the penultimate year the current engine configuration appears before being replaced by a new power unit formula in 2026.

Current F1 power units feature seven 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 2024 season, a driver may use no more than four ICEs, MGU-Hs, MGU-Ks and turbochargers, 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).

Following technical issues on the opening day of the Bahrain Grand Prix, McLaren elected to equip the MCL38 of Lando Norris with a fresh energy store and control electronics. The change has put Norris on the verge of sporting penalties as he has no more new ES and CE for the remainder of the season.

Since that opening round and the reliability issues-enforced changes for Norris, many drivers have taken fresh power unit components. In fact, every driver has used two internal combustion engines, turbochargers, MGU-Hs, MGU-Ks so far.

The only exception is the Monaco GP race winner as Charles Leclerc has already added three units from all these components to his pool. The Monégasque enjoyed impressive reliability up to the Miami Grand Prix as he completed the opening fice rounds with the same power unit.

Leclerc received a fresh power unit in Florida, but he was forced to take another fresh set of components in the following race in Imola with Ferrari having not announced the cause of the unexpected change.

Gearbox units

Drivers are also limited in terms of how many restricted-number components (RNCs) they can use during a season. RNCs are components that make up the gearbox, split between the gearbox case and cassette, and the gearbox driveline, gear change components and auxiliary components.

As with their power units, drivers have a ‘pool’ of four gearboxes that can be swapped around during the season. Only when a driver exceeds their allocation of either of the above gearbox components do they receive a grid penalty.

RB driver Yuki Tsunoda and Alpine racer Esteban Ocon are the only drivers to have completed the first eight races of the season with a single gearbox unit.

By contrast, there are drivers who have already added several units to their pool of gearboxes. Fernando Alonso, Charles Leclerc, Pierre Gasly, Alexander Albon, Logan Sargeant and Zhou Guanyu have already used three gearbox cases and gearbox 'internals'.

Reigning champion Max Verstappen has already added three gearbox internals and two gearbox cases to his pool, meaning that he needs to be careful if he wants to avoid a sporting penalty in the closing stages of the season.