Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, 2018

Red Bull repair Ricciardo’s MGU-K without penalty

2018 Canadian Grand Prix

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Red Bull have replaced a part on Daniel Ricciardo’s MGU-K but will not incur a penalty for doing so.

Ricciardo has already used two new MGU-Ks this year and will collect a penalty if he uses a third. Red Bull aims to avoid that this weekend by using an old MGU-K.

The FIA confirmed on Friday that Red Bull has replaced a transmission fastener on Ricciardo’s MGU-K with a new one. This involved breaking one of the FIA inspection seals. However replacing this part is permitted without incurring a penalty, under appendix two, item 13 of the technical regulations.

Ricciardo has had a new engine, turbocharger and MGU-H this weekend as part of Renault’s ‘B-spec’ power unit upgrade package. But he lost time in both sessions with a problem relating to the installation of the new parts.

“We had some problems this morning and they tried to fix it during lunch but it didn’t improve,” he said. “We had to try and fix that. In the end it was a bit better but we made some improvements.”

Ricciardo’s team mate Max Verstappen has changed his gearbox for this weekend, which he is allowed to do without penalty having had to replace his previous gearbox in Monaco. Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen, Sergio Perez, Lance Stroll, Carlos Sainz Jnr, Fernando Alonso and Charles Leclerc have also had new gearboxes fitted without penalty for this weekend having used their originals gearboxes for the required six consecutive races.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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14 comments on “Red Bull repair Ricciardo’s MGU-K without penalty”

  1. Okay, so now I’m confused about gearbox penalties. MaxV will not be penalised for a gearbox change this weekend because he had to change one in Monaco. Hmm, light goes on, Monaco was accident damage so doesn’t count, maybe?

    1. The Dolphins
      9th June 2018, 1:58

      I don’t get it either @hohum

      I was also unaware that an MGU-K could be repaired without a penalty; however the article also states that it was a fastener which could mean that the MGU-K was not broken, instead it was just not correctly fastened? Is that correct @keithcollantine?

    2. It’s a quirk of the rules, it’s been this way for a while.
      Didn’t know you could break the seal to replace a part, I thought you could only break seals for inspection. Smart thinking by RB to replace the MGU-K around that fastener…

      1. They did not replace the MGU K all they did was repair the fastener …its the same MGU k they used at the beginning of the season…

    3. @peartree – the regs are quite sensible, in that it allows replacement of parts that might endure wear and tear or damage, but are not going to affect performance. So, components like wiring, sensors, intake/exhaust plumbing, coolant plumbing, coolant pumps, are all things that can be changed, and if it needs an FIA seal to be broken, it can be done under inspection. However, components like the cylinder head, crankcase, gear case, are all items that can’t be changed, neither can the actual internals of the MGU-K, etc.

      If interested, you can take a look at the technical regs, where pages 102-103 indicate which components can be changed in such a manner, by indicating them with an EXC in the column named 5.22.

      1. I dont really see the sense in allowing them to freely change stuff in a reg thats focused on reliability. I guess they have to draw a line somewhere since they are allowed to rebuild the rest of the car but straight up changing parts from wear seems like a undesired loophole.

      2. Mark, don’t take me that seriously.
        @phylyp “allows replacement of parts that might endure wear and tear or damage, but are not going to affect performance” not saying that you aren’t right, just saying it does not make sense, like @rethla said, one can argue that this transmission fastener on the mgu k isn’t strong enough and so it is replaced every weekend, making it stronger enough would indirectly affect performance.

        1. @peartree – yeah, that’s a bit of a fine distinction, maybe it is better defined as “not going to directly affect performance”, the specific parts excluded are the kind not expected to cause an excessive cost escalation of teams opt to do as you’ve mentioned.

  2. I don’t understand the situation with Max’s gearbox at all

    1. @anunaki

      It is weird wording. There has now been 6 races and everyone is allowed to change gearboxes which are required to last at least 6 consecutive races, unrelated to that Max also had to change his gearbox last race for wich he has already been penalized.

      1. Ok so he doesn’t have to keep his brand new Monaco gearbox for 5 races

        Weird rule if you ask me

        1. @anunaki
          No he doesnt have to keep it for 5 races. He took an replacement gearbox last week and it did replace his gearbox in all aspects, thats why there is a penalty.

          1. @rethla so this is a regular gearbox change and the one from Monaco is only used there to replace the 1st regular one?

            That would make sense, thx

  3. Is it like Trigger’s broom?

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