McLaren has taken advantage of a new rule which allows them to use an extra power unit element without incurring a penalty.
Engine manufacturer Honda has been given permission to use five new power unit elements during its first season. This rules change came into effect after Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso had already taken penalties in Canada and Austria for changing power unit components.
The pair will each use a new engine (ICE), turbocharger, MGU-K and MHU-H this weekend. Alonso will also have new control electronics on his car. None of these changes will incur a penalty.
Manor has also changed much of Roberto Merhi’s power unit. He will have a new Ferrari engine, turbo and MGU-H this weekend.
This table shows how many power unit elements each driver has used so far:
Todfod (@todfod)
24th July 2015, 11:30
Mclaren might go through a dozen of each component at their current run rate!
Honda should go down in the history books for the worst possible performance and worst possible reliability of any PU in the history of the sport
Andy (@andybantam)
24th July 2015, 11:36
@todfod if only f1 rejects was still a going concern
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
24th July 2015, 13:38
@todfod considering how complicated this power units are, I don’t think Honda’s is that bad. We’ve seen engines blow up every half an hour in the past and those guys had the benefit of unlimited testing and unlimited changes in the design, not to mention they didn’t suffer penalties if they blew up.
Honda is basically forced to be conservative, trying not to damage the components going much slower than they could. They are forced to catch up at a slower pace.
It’s like that episode when Bart is placed in the remedial class in You Only Move Twice. “We’re behind the rest of our class and we’re going to catch up to them by going slower than they are? *Cuckoo!*”
AdrianMorse (@adrianmorse)
24th July 2015, 12:09
Looks like Keith will be running out of shades of red pretty quickly for the McLaren cars.
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
24th July 2015, 17:20
When Singapore GP start, McLaren color will be purple and just before Brazil its gonna be blue…
Broke84 (@broke84)
24th July 2015, 12:31
Is Marussia’s new engine still a 2014 spec? @keithcollantine
SatchelCharge (@satchelcharge)
24th July 2015, 14:33
Yes. They won’t have a chassis that will fit the current Ferrari engine until next season.
Todfod (@todfod)
24th July 2015, 15:45
Wow. Didn’t know they were still running a 2014 spec engine.
Got to wonder how close it would have been between Manor and Mclaren if Manor was running a 2015 spec engine.
Foosa
24th July 2015, 12:46
So Renault have better CE and ES than Ferrari or Honda, and equivalent to Mercedes.. Am i reading it right?
SatchelCharge (@satchelcharge)
24th July 2015, 14:36
“more reliable” would be a preferable phrase to “better”. And I think that is ignoring a lot of variables, but ok. We are also only at half season.
petebaldwin (@)
24th July 2015, 19:49
Still 2 sessions to go before the race – I think there’s a still a decent chance they’ll incur a grid penalty!