SPORTING: How many power unit components have drivers used so far in 2024?
Max Verstappen has already been hit with a grid-drop penalty for exceeding his power unit allocation for the 2024 F1 season. F1Technical's lead journalist Balazs Szabo analyses the situation as far as the power unit useage is concerned.
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).
Altough only 14 races have been completed from the 24-round calendar in 2024, there are several drivers who have already exceeded their allocation of power units.
Reigning world champion Max Verstappen received a ten-place grid penalty at Spa-Francorchamps for taking his fifth internal combustion engine in 2024. The Milton Keynes-headquartered outfit elected to perform the engine change at Spa, because the Dutchman easily overcame grid penalties in the previous two Spa races to take a commanding win.
However, with McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari having closed in on the world champion outfit, the three-time world champion was unable challenge for the win and had to settle for a disappointing fifth-place finish.
His team-mate Sergio Perez has also already added his fifth ICE to his pool, and he is hopeful that he can get around with his exsisting engines in the remaining ten races of the season.
However, both Red Bull drivers are nearing their final exhaust system which could indicate that the Milton Keynes-based outfit is deliberately adding the exhaust assemblies to the pool of its drivers to introduce an all-new power unit in both RB20s later on in the season.
It would mean that both Verstappen and Perez will be able to complete the final stages of the season with a brand-new power unit, and they could serve the penalty in a single race.
Alpine's Pierre Gasly has also exceeded his allocation of power units for the 2024 F1 season. The Frenchman has already added an additional ICE, MGU-K, MGU-H and turbocharger to his pool, but he has already exceeded his allocation of energy store and control electronics as well.
Highlighting the Red Bull-Honda power unit's reliability issues, Visa Cash RB driver Yuki Tsunoda has also exceeded his allocation. Similar to Gasly, the Japanese driver has also already used five ICEs, MGU-Ks, MGU-Hs and TCs while he used one more ES and CE than permitted.
There are two other drivers who find themselves on the verge of potential penalties later on in 2024.
Gasly's team-mate Esteban Ocon has completely expoited his allocation of each component that makes up the power units bar the exhaust system. It leaves the French driver in a rather tough situation for the remainder of the season.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc also faces a tough challenge if he wants to avoid penalties in the remaining stretch of the F1 schedule.
The main issue for the Monegasque driver is that he has already fully exploited his allocation of MGU-H, energy strores and control electronics which indicated that he might be forced to take additional components when the season approached its climax.
