Future 2019 team mates Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg will be starting Sunday's Italian Grand Prix from the back of the grid after both drivers picked up hefty penalties as a result of taking new power unit elements for this weekend's event.
Ricciardo has opted to use a complete fourth set of components on his Red Bull comprising a new internal combustion engine (ICE), turbocharger (TC), motor generator unit - heat (MGU-H), motor generator unit - kinetic (MGU-K), energy store (ES) and control electronics unit (CE).
The Australian is set to run the latest 'C' specification upgrade from Renault this weekend. Red Bull was busy evaluating its performance against that of team mate Max Verstappen in Friday's free practice session.
In Hulkenberg's case, he takes a fifth ICE, a sixth TC, fifth MGU-H, fourth MGU-K, fourth ES and fourth CE in a strategic move by the Renault F1 team to stock up on parts for the rest of the season.
In both cases, the race stewards confirmed that the changes were in breach of Article 23.3 (a) of the FIA Formula 1 Sporting Regulations. They added that therefore both drivers were required to to start this weekend's race from the back of the starting grid.
The way the penalties are imposed depends on who was out on track first in FP1. As Ricciardo came out ahead of Hulkenberg, he will line up in 19th place while the German is relegated to 20th.
Hulkenberg already had a ten-place penalty for Monza as a result of crashing into Ricciardo at the start of the Belgian Grand Prix last week. Since he was therefore likely to start low down on the grid anyway, the team opted to take a 'free' additional penalty in order to stock up on components.
Despite taking his fourth engine of the season, Ricciardo has already admitted that he will still probably need more parts over the course of the remaining eight races of 2018 - which could incur even more penalties down the line.
“It’s likely I'll have another one at some point,” he told Motorsport.com. “If we could get from Singapore through, without any penalties, then that would be above target."
His team mate Max Verstappen could also move to the latest upgrade this weekend. That wasn't among the changes confirmed by the FIA on Friday, but it may still happen on Saturday morning.
Even if it does, Verstappen won't face penalties for taking on a new ICE and MGU-H as he still has one more unit allowed under the rules before incurring a grid drop.
There is also no word on power unit changes for Fernando Alonso, despite his accident at Spa which means that he will be racing in a brand new chassis at Monza.
Here's how the usage looks on Friday afternoon after FP2:
| Driver | ICE | TC | MGU-H | MGU-K | ES | CE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercedes | ||||||
| Lewis Hamilton | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Valtteri Bottas | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Ferrari | ||||||
| Sebastian Vettel | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Kimi Räikkönen | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Red Bull/TAG Heuer | ||||||
| Daniel Ricciardo | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Max Verstappen | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Force India/Mercedes | ||||||
| Sergio Pérez | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Esteban Ocon | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Williams/Mercedes | ||||||
| Lance Stroll | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Sergey Sirotkin | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Renault | ||||||
| Nico Hülkenberg | 5 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Carlos Sainz | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Toro Rosso/Honda | ||||||
| Brendon Hartley | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 |
| Pierre Gasly | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| Haas/Ferrari | ||||||
| Romain Grosjean | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Kevin Magnussen | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| McLaren/Renault | ||||||
| Fernando Alonso | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Stoffel Vandoorne | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Sauber/Ferrari | ||||||
| Marcus Ericsson | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Charles Leclerc | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Notes:
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