Mercedes' decision to put a new engine into Valtteri Bottas car for this weekend's British Grand Prix means that the Finn has now used all three internal combustion engines, turbochargers and MGU-H units permitted for the season.

It's still possible that the components that were on his car last week in Austria will be cleared for future use and put back in the 'pool'. But if not, then Bottas almost certainly faces a heavy grid penalty in the latter half of the season.

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and Renault's Nico Hulkenberg have also used all their permitted ICE, TC and MGU-H for the season, putting them at the same risk. Meanwhile both Toro Rosso drivers have already taken more than their allowed annual assignment and have started to pick up grid penalties.

However, so far no one faces grid penalties for Silverstone as things stand after Free Practice 1.

As well as Bottas new engine components, Hulkenberg has also received a new ICE and TC for the weekend and Sauber's Charles Leclerc has received his second energy store and control electronics unit of the year.

Romain Grosjean also has been fitted with a new energy store. However it's not yet known whether his Friday morning practice accident will require further changes to his engine components or gearbox.

Power Element Usage

Driver ICE TC MGU-H MGU-K ES CE
Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton 2 2 2 1 1 1
Valtteri Bottas 3 3 3 2 2 2
Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel 2 2 2 1 1 2
Kimi Räikkönen 2 3 2 1 1 2
Red Bull/TAG Heuer
Daniel Ricciardo 3 3 3 2 2 2
Max Verstappen 2 3 2 3 1 2
Force India/Mercedes
Sergio Pérez 2 2 2 1 2 1
Esteban Ocon 2 2 2 1 1 1
Williams/Mercedes
Lance Stroll 2 2 2 1 1 1
Sergey Sirotkin 2 2 2 1 1 1
Renault
Nico Hülkenberg 3 3 3 2 2 2
Carlos Sainz 2 2 3 2 2 2
Toro Rosso/Honda
Brendon Hartley 5 5 5 4 3 3
Pierre Gasly 4 4 4 3 2 2
Haas/Ferrari
Romain Grosjean 2 3 3 1 2 2
Kevin Magnussen 2 2 2 1 2 2
McLaren/Renault
Fernando Alonso 2 3 2 3 2 2
Stoffel Vandoorne 2 2 2 2 2 2
Sauber/Ferrari
Marcus Ericsson 2 2 2 1 2 2
Charles Leclerc 2 2 2 1 2 2

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.

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