New PU parts for the Hungarian GP

The Hungarian GP sees a lot of changes in terms of power unit parts for Max Verstappen while other top drivers hang on their previous parts on a track which puts less emphasis on PU. It means even older elements won’t compromise on-track performance in a dramatic way.

F1 drivers are limited in the number of available power unit components for the third year of running of the new hybrid engine era. PUs are divided into six different parts: internal combustion engine (ICE), kinetic energy recovery system, turbo charger, energy store, control electronics and motor generator unit for heat (MGU-H).

Each driver is permitted to use up to five from each component. Any changes above that maximum results in different penalties.

Max Verstappen uses his third ICE, third turbo charger, third MGU-H and third KERS for this weekend.

Daniil Kvyat, Carlos Sainz, Felipe Nasr and Esteban Gutierrez all debut their third KERS. Sainz also uses his third energy store and control electronics. From that component Daniel Ricciardo, Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr all use their third one.

Some drivers are already finding themselves in difficult situation as they are on the verge of using all of the permitted elements in different components.

Lewis Hamilton is using his last turbo charger and MGU-H. Mercedes has been already rumoured to have figured out the best way to minimize Hamilton’s penalties. Rumours were swirling that the Anglo-German team will make a double complete power-unit change for the triple world champion at Spa which results in a back-row start, but will leave Hamilton with plenty of components for the remainder of the 2016 season.

Verstappen is running his last control electronics while Fernando Alonso is using the fourth element of all the components.

The Ferrari drivers are also nearing the point of possible penalties as Kimi Räikkönen uses his fourth KERS and Sebastian Vettel uses his fourth ICE.