Pierre Gasly, Toro Rosso, Circuit of the Americas, 2018

Power unit penalty sends Gasly to back of the grid again

2018 Mexican Grand Prix

Posted on

| Written by

Pierre Gasly is set to start at the back of the grid for the third time in four races due to a power unit penalty.

The Toro Rosso driver has taken his eighth engine, turbo-charger and MGU-H for this weekend’s race. He has therefore incurred a 15-place grid penalty.

No other drivers have changed power unit components in time for the start of first practice.

Power unit components used so far

No. Car Engine Driver ICE TC MGU-H MGU-K ES CE
28 Toro Rosso Honda Brendon Hartley 8 8 8 7 3 4
10 Toro Rosso Honda Pierre Gasly 8 8 8 6 3 3
27 Renault Renault Nico Hulkenberg 5 6 5 4 4 4
3 Red Bull TAG Heuer Daniel Ricciardo 5 5 5 5 4 4
14 McLaren Renault Fernando Alonso 4 4 4 4 3 3
33 Red Bull TAG Heuer Max Verstappen 4 4 4 4 3 3
77 Mercedes Mercedes Valtteri Bottas 4 4 4 3 3 3
55 Renault Renault Carlos Sainz Jnr 4 4 4 3 3 3
2 McLaren Renault Stoffel Vandoorne 4 4 4 3 3 3
9 Sauber Ferrari Marcus Ericsson 4 3 3 2 3 2
8 Haas Ferrari Romain Grosjean 3 3 3 2 2 2
20 Haas Ferrari Kevin Magnussen 3 3 3 2 2 2
31 Sauber Ferrari Charles Leclerc 3 3 3 2 2 2
5 Ferrari Ferrari Sebastian Vettel 3 3 3 2 2 2
44 Mercedes Mercedes Lewis Hamilton 3 3 3 2 2 2
11 Force India Mercedes Sergio Perez 3 3 3 2 2 2
31 Force India Mercedes Esteban Ocon 3 3 3 2 2 2
18 Williams Mercedes Lance Stroll 3 3 3 2 2 2
35 Williams Mercedes Sergey Sitorkin 3 3 3 2 2 2
7 Ferrari Ferrari Kimi Raikkonen 3 3 3 2 2 2

ICE: Internal Combustion EngineTC: Turbocharger
MGU-K: Motor Generator Unit – Kinetic
MGU-H: Moto Generator Unit: Heat
ES: Energy Store
CE: Control Electronics

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2018 F1 season

Browse all 2018 F1 season articles

Author information

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...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

Posted on Categories 2018 F1 season, 2018 Mexican Grand PrixTags , ,

Promoted content from around the web | Become a RaceFans Supporter to hide this ad and others

  • 14 comments on “Power unit penalty sends Gasly to back of the grid again”

    1. So, comparative testing of two specs of engine? Hmm.

      1. Definitely something out of the ordinary afoot. Not that strange, I suppose, considering there’s still only one team running Honda engines. That must be a significant disadvantage data wise, at the very least.

      2. On Sky they mentioned something like that – but the new one not being reliable (yet) to feel safe running it in a race.

      3. Wow, i just heard Ted mentioning that the reason they had to build it out was because the engine was not bolted together quite right and tight …

        Talking about quality control and build quality. Yup, quite like what McLaren experienced only too often with Honda

    2. https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/139658/red-bull-honda-relations-now-better-than-renault

      Call me evil, but I can’t wait to see the fireworks next year, probably from the first race of the season, snce that’s just about how much patience Red Bull has shown to have for their engine partners.

      Remember, they were constantly throwing Renault under the bus, even when they were winning and despite Renault coming up with the revolutionary engine diffuser blowing system.

      1. Verstappen will be like Alonso… Complaining while entertaining us

    3. As Martha would say … “This is a good thing.”
      One of the issues (as I understand it) that Honda ran into with McLaren was harmonic vibrations within the engine. This didn’t show up on the dyno, but was a BIG issue when connected to the car. There have been a few notes of late that they are still working on this. Problem not yet solved.
      With the restrictions on testing, that means real running in a real car at race speeds, the only way they can test new and hopefully improved parts, is in races. Hence the propensity to change engines, sorry, power units, on a regular basis.
      Expectation is for Honda to continue this mo and bring further upgrades over the next two races as well. As for the drivers starting at the back …. all the time, well, it builds character.
      One of the beefs that Red Bull has had with Renault is a lack of replacement parts. CH is regularly mentioning that they “may” have enough parts in the system to put a package together to run and to avoid penalties. Hopefully Honda has a more realistic policy on parts availability in place next year.

      1. Well, Renault will have two fewer engines to supply next year; that should take care of any parts availability issues ………

    4. Unsurprising.

    5. Lol Can’t wait to hear more BS from VER about how awesome Honda is.

    6. I’m wondering if it is another new spec of PU… I wouldn’t surprise me if they are trialling more powerful PU’s for next season…

    7. One for the Toro Rosso Playlist:
      “Couldn’t Get It Right” by Climax Blues Band.

    8. It seems Honda hasn’t been bragging but Torro Rosso. Franz Todst has been spouting off all season rubbing it into Alonso and McLaren but so far not much to show for it.

      Now Marko is proclaiming they will be in the fight for the championship next year after Horner claimed they wouldn’t a few weeks back. He also said he feels sorry for Dan as he will have to deal with failures for the next 2 years.

      Perhaps Marko will have the same problems next year – he would be wise to wait before spouting off. The pressure must be mounting on Honda. Torro has been great but RBR is a very different animal.

      It will be very interesting to see how Max acts if these kind of issues are still happening next year. Honda will not have to be perfect, but even if they have a few failures they will get blasted by golden boy and Marko.

      Not a fan of this team so I hope the Renault and RIC hand them their @$$.

    9. the more things change, the more they stay the same….nothing to see here…..move along folks

    Comments are closed.