Mercedes is weighing up if it must take Method 1 grid penalties for engine modifications over the second half of the season, which may see Kimi Antonelli hit with a drop for his dwelling race at Monza.
The F1 world championship chief is already on the restrict of his used inner combustion engines, exhaust units, power shops and management electronics, whereas he has one further turbocharger and MGU-Okay items permitted inside his allocation for the season.
This implies if Antonelli was to tackle a brand new set of one of many inner combustion engines, exhaust units, power shops or management electronics, he would mechanically be given a grid penalty for the subsequent race he participated in.
If F1 groups have the strategic flexibility, they may typically choose to take the grid drops at circuits the place overtaking is taken into account simpler with a view to restrict the ache of the penalty. For instance, Isack Hadjar took his grid drop at Spa-Francorchamps and went from twenty first on the grid to sixth place on the chequered flag for Crimson Bull.
For the upcoming rounds, Monza is taken into account one of many simpler tracks to overhaul round – in comparison with the likes of Zandvoort and Baku – which implies Mercedes could resolve to serve Antonelli’s penalty at his dwelling race.
“By way of engine penalties, I nonetheless very a lot hope we need not take it and we have to resolve when that’s, when we have to take one and which tracks,” Wolff stated.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photograph by: Michael Potts / LAT Pictures through Getty Pictures
“There could possibly be one that may be very particular for Kimi, however on paper it seems prefer it’s place to take an engine penalty, so we have to converse to Marco [Antonelli, Kimi’s father] whether or not we need to take an engine penalty in Monza.”
Wolff later added: “Baku can be one, perhaps Baku. We take the strain off in Monza to begin from the again! It is simply our reliability has been simply not good and whether or not we take a penalty or not, we will see.”
Antonelli suffered {an electrical} failure together with his energy unit through the Barcelona GP, which denied him a second-place end, with a repair for the problem arriving on the Austrian GP subsequent trip.
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However as Wolff alluded to, there isn’t a certainty that Antonelli might want to take an engine penalty later this season given drivers can rotate between energy unit parts beforehand used. It can rely upon the lifespan of those components and shall be weighed up in opposition to if Mercedes has issues over unreliability of older items.
Up to now this season, Hadjar has served a again of the grid penalty for an virtually completely new energy unit change, whereas Norris was given a 10-place grid drop for a management electronics change. Each Aston Martin drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll additionally served again of the grid drops for brand spanking new MGU-Okay and electrical parts – the entire aforementioned penalties had been served on the Belgian GP.
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