POWER UNITS: Ferrari elected to fit the fourth and last power unit into Leclerc and Hamilton's car at Silverstone
The British Grand Prix saw many drivers across the field race with fresh power unit elements, with some of the changes moving drivers onto the last components of their allocation. F1Technical's senior writer Balazs Szabo reports on the current situation regarding the power units.
For the 12th year running, the 2025 F1 cars are powered by V6 hybrid turbo power units with 1.6-litre engines. This season represents the last year the current engine configuration appears before being replaced by a new power unit formula in 2026.
Current F1 power units feature seven elements: the internal combustion engine (ICE), motor generator unit-heat (MGU-H), motor generator unit-kinetic (MGU-K), turbocharger, energy store (ES), control electronics (CE) and exhaust.
Over the course of the 2024 season, a driver may use no more than four ICEs, MGU-Hs, MGU-Ks and turbochargers, two energy stores and control electronics, and eight of each of the four elements that make up a set of exhaust systems (comprising primaries left-hand side, primaries right-hand side, secondary LHS and secondary RHS).
The British Grand Prix saw 17 drivers race with a new internal combustion engine.
The Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, the Mercedes pair of George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda, Haas racer Oliver Bearman, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso all started to use their fourth and last power unit.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, Williams duo of Carlos Sainz and Alexander Albon, reigning champion Max Verstappen, Aston Martin racer Lance Stroll, Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar and the Sauber duo of Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto also received a fresh internal combustion engine, but all of them still have a new ICE to use for the rest of the season.
Having suffered a high-speed crash in qualifying at the British Grand Prix, Alpine elected to install a new ICE into Franco Colapinto’s car. It was his sixth ICE which meant that the Argentinean driver received a grid drop penalty. In addition, the Alpine driver also received a new turbocharger, MGU-H, MGU-K, energy store and control electronics.
Piastri, Norris, Leclerc, Hamilton, Tsunoda, Russell, Antonelli, Stroll, Alonso, Bearman, Hadjar, Hulkenberg and Bortoleto received a new turbocharger.
Piastri, Norris, Leclerc, Hamilton, Tsunoda, Russell, Antonelli, Stroll, Alonso, Bearman, Hadjar, Hulkenberd and Bortoleto got a fresh MGU-H and MGU-K.
The Ferrari duo, Stroll and Sainz received a new energy store. The Canadian and the Spaniard also got a fresh control electronics.
The Ferrari pair, the Red Bull duo, the Racing Bulls duo, the Sauber pair, Bearman, Stroll and Piastri raced with a new exhaust system at Silverstone.
