Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and Renault’s Kevin Magnussen will use the French manufacturer’s upgraded power units at this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.
Team mates Max Verstappen and Jolyon Palmer will have to wait until the next round in Canada to get their hands on the upgraded power units. Renault originally planned to introduce the upgrade at the Montreal race.
According to Renault’s Remi Taffin the upgraded power units are worth as much as half a second per lap. The new version includes changes to the combustion system and a more powerful internal combustion engine.
Verstappen, who ran the new engine in testing last week, says the upgrade is a “very positive step”.
“I felt very comfortable with it. It’s very positive that we gained so much because it’s not so easy to find that out of the car. I’m looking forward to using it in Canada.”
Red Bull’s Renault power units are branded as TAG Heuer.
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
25th May 2016, 14:09
Oh oh, I know some people who won’t be happy.
ES
25th May 2016, 14:59
Pretty exciting to see what happens when Verstappen outqualifies of finishing higher with an old engine. How many excuses from the Ausies and Ricciardo fans will we see then?
josh
25th May 2016, 16:01
Oh I see your a Verstappen fan.
KhanistanF1 (@khanistanf1)
25th May 2016, 16:46
just wondering who you support in f1? I couldnt tell from your comment….
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
25th May 2016, 17:21
Hard to say.
kpcart
26th May 2016, 12:24
hey @ES, pretty exciting to see Verstappen repeat his crash from last years Monaco race, while Ricciardo romps to a podium finish… see anyone can predict the future.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
25th May 2016, 20:47
@xtwl If Renault haven’t got the ‘drive-ability’ of the new unit sorted yet then being stuck with the old one could be a blessing in disguise at a track like Monaco.
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
26th May 2016, 6:06
@keithcollantine I’m wondering why they chose Monaco to begin with anyway. Just use all four new ones in Canada.
Bustertje
25th May 2016, 14:17
Makes sense.
dam00r (@dam00r)
25th May 2016, 14:22
But reliability?
GeeMac (@geemac)
25th May 2016, 14:55
Reading the stories in the weeks running up to this suggests that the reliability issues have been signed off by running the upgraded PU extensively on the dyno and by the running done in the last test. It should be fine.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
25th May 2016, 17:21
Famous last words…
jimmi cynic
26th May 2016, 8:47
Ah come on…it’s a proven Honda strategy. A year on the dyno = 25 laps on the track.
MazdaChris (@mazdachris)
25th May 2016, 14:24
On the one hand it’s good for DR to get the upgraded PU and would be a bit unfair if they gave it to MV, even if he did win the last race.
However, it does put Ricciardo under pressure to perform this weekend, both in terms of delivering on the potential of the new power unit, and in terms of not ending up finishing behind a teammate running an inferior package.
BasCB (@bascb)
25th May 2016, 14:33
Yeah, it makes sense to give the new unit to the driver leading the championship in this case. And off course had they given it to Max, I am pretty sure Ricciardo would have felt baldy done by @mazdachris.
Luckily power unit is not the utmost important thing in Monaco either, so the difference would certainly not be as much here as it would be in Canada.
Off course we could also see these engines go poof during the weekend …
Jan Paul
25th May 2016, 14:36
If the new engine breaks down, RIC fans will be complaining Red Bull unfairly treated him as guinea pig. 😉
dutch in sweden (@dutch-in-sweden)
25th May 2016, 14:36
As the PU is not that important on the narrow streets of Monaco it might be a good thing for Max not to have the new PU. You can only use limited PUs during a year and in a way Max has the advantage of a younger PU for the rest of the season as well as the unit has been race tested when he gets it.
KhanistanF1 (@khanistanf1)
25th May 2016, 16:49
I hope renault have not cut any corners (haha whats a pun) to bring this upgrade ‘quickly.’ Of all the tracks to bring it to a new engine is not going to be seen in all its glory around monaco.
Btw imagine the scenes red bull had decided to give MV the new engine rather than DR. Would be ridiculously unfair but entertaining as a red bull neutral.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
25th May 2016, 17:23
Even Red Bull is not that unfair to their drivers.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
25th May 2016, 17:25
So we shall see, I wonder how will this work for them Renault powered teams. Imagine it gives them 3-4 tenths… Could they split Mercedes? It is gonna be an epic weekend.
LosD (@losd)
25th May 2016, 19:41
Should be around 2 tenths in Monaco, and 5 tenths in Montreal, according to what I saw somewhere.
lockup (@)
25th May 2016, 20:33
That was Renault themselves @losd. I reckon they didn’t factor the improved driveability into that though, and driveability is a big issue round Monaco. I predict Ricci will be contending for pole, or at least split them as @jureo says.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
25th May 2016, 18:09
Given its not a power circuit, I suspect that they’ve decided to split who gets the new engine to assess reliability as well.
DR and Kmag are the test pilots and probably taking the bigger risks in terms of DNF given Renaults recent history.
JeffreyJ
25th May 2016, 20:35
Renault (or in RB’s case TAG) has been reliable so far this year, though. And the upgraded engine has done 400+ laps over 2 days in 4 cars in testing last week so it sees reliable.
Besides reliabilty, Renault said they confirmed their predicted 0.4 gain and if that is true RB would surpass Ferrari and might seriously threat Mercedes. Maybe not at tracks like Canada/Austria/Silverstone/Mexico City, but at tracks like Baku/Singapore/Brazil for sure and maybe even Suzuka/COTA and Abu dhabi.
This could also given HAM a chance to show his skills as I think ROS will struggle more without the default margin over the competition. Thats just my hunch though. #44#blessed#HAMfosie (just kidding! ;-) )
Things could get very interesting this season!!
MikeeCZ
25th May 2016, 20:57
But the Ricciardo isnt getting new Renault is he.. He is, of course, getting a new TAG Heuer…duh silly
John H (@john-h)
25th May 2016, 23:46
A new watch that loses half a second every minute.