Power unit element usage for Belgium

Honda power unit elements in the McLaren MCL32

With the summer shutdown behind us, we're now getting started on the final nine races of the 2017 world championship. It might be only just over halfway through the season, but most teams have got through way more than half their allowed power unit elements.

Drivers are permitted to use only four of each of the six elements that make up the power unit under current regulations. Any more than that and they start getting some painful grid penalties.

Theres a 10-place penalty the first time a fifth element is used. When any of the remaining elements is used, there's another five-place drop imposed. And the first time a sixth element is used, a 10-place grid penalty is applied.

McLaren know all about that - they're already way over their permitted quota. And the fitting of a brand new latest-specification Honda engine to the back of Stoffel Vandoorne's MCL32 means he loses a total of 35 grid places for his home race this weekend in Belgium. Ouch!

But where does everyone else currently stand? Here's the way that the power unit element usage looks heading to Spa-Francorchamps.

Welcome home Stoffel, here's a 35-place grid penalty!

Mercedes still looks to have everything under control in terms of overall usage. They've been hit with penalties for gearbox changes in the past, but power unit elements are on course.

Red Bull are looking more precarious. Daniel Ricciardo has already been forced to use a fifth MGU-H. And Ferrari could quickly end up in trouble if they need any more turbochargers during 2017.

Force India and Williams are both looking solid - is it any coincidence that they share Mercedes engines? But Haas, Renault and Sauber all have weak spots. And Toro Rosso is getting close to the line as well - Daniil Kvyat has already maxed out on engine, turbocharger and MGU-H.

Will anyone other than Vandoorne tip over the edge and earn themselves penalties for Sunday's race? Watch this space...

Power Element Usage

Driver	ICE	TC	MGU-H	MGU-K	ES	CE
Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton	3	3	3	3	2	2
Valtteri Bottas	3	3	3	3	2	2
Red Bull/TAG Heuer
Daniel Ricciardo	4	4	5	3	2	2
Max Verstappen	3	3	4	2	2	2
Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel	3	4	3	3	3	3
Kimi Räikkönen	3	4	3	3	3	3
Force India/Mercedes
Sergio Pérez	3	3	3	2	2	2
Esteban Ocon	3	3	3	2	2	2
Williams/Mercedes
Felipe Massa	3	3	3	2	2	2
Lance Stroll	3	3	3	2	1	2
McLaren/Honda
Fernando Alonso	6	8	8	6	5	4
Stoffel Vandoorne	4	7	7	4	5	5
Toro Rosso/Renault
Daniil Kvyat	4	4	4	2	3	3
Carlos Sainz	3	3	4	3	2	3
Haas/Ferrari
Romain Grosjean	3	4	3	3	2	2
Kevin Magnussen	3	4	3	3	2	2
Renault
Nico Hülkenberg	3	3	4	3	3	3
Jolyon Palmer	3	4	4	2	3	3
Sauber/Ferrari
Marcus Ericsson	3	3	3	3	3	3
Pascal Wehrlein	3	4	4	3	2	3

Notes:

ICE: Internal Combustion Engine
TC: Turbo Charger
MGU-H: Motor Generator Unit – Heat
MGU-K: Motor Generator Unit – Kinetic
ES: Energy Store
CE: Control Electronics

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.