Kvyat to incur ten-place penalty for engine change

2014 Italian Grand Prix

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Daniil Kvyat will be the first driver to fall foul of the new penalties for using too many engine components.

The Toro Rosso driver is using his sixth internal combustion engine (ICE) this season at Monza, which means he will take a ten-place grid penalty.

This year drivers incur penalties for using more than five examples of the six different major engine components: the ICE, turbocharger, MGU-K, MGU-H, energy store and control electronics. If Kvyat uses a sixth of any of the other components he will take a five-place penalty.

In another change for this season, if Kvyat is unable to serve his entire penalty this weekend, the remainder will carry over for one further weekend. For example if he can only be moved back eight places on the grid this weekend, he will be moved back two places on the grid at Singapore.

Kvyat is on his fifth MGU-K, fourth MGU-H and turbocharger and third control electronics and energy store.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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19 comments on “Kvyat to incur ten-place penalty for engine change”

  1. You gotta love the new engine rules. Already a 6th engine for Kvyat with just 7 races to go….

    Vergne, Maldonado and Vettel will soon follow.

  2. Here we go! I know that cost saving is very important, but it’s ridicilous, because we’re embraced to see penalty show. I can’t imagine drivers using just 4 power units next year. It’s too soon for that, F1 could’ve managed with 7 engines this year, 6 next year etc., because technology is very novel and it’s hard to expect engines being trouble free.

    1. 5 power units this year, not 4.

      But yes, you’re right and I agree. For a new engine, 5 is just too few given what teams have been used to in years gone by – especially with the increased complexity of the new engines.

      1. He said

        drivers using just 4 power units next year

        and yes its looks like going to make things even more worse

        1. He said

          drivers using just 4 power units next year

          and yes its looks like going to make things even more worse

          Oh, I misread that. I didn’t realise they were going down to 4 next year – even worse!

    2. Nobody saved money with the new engines. They spend more in fact.

  3. I believe from figures posted in a round up the other day, another 6 drivers are on a 5th component while the rest are on a 4th – nobody has more than a 2 component breathing space.

    Given there is still, what, a third of the season to go, the end of the season could be a penalty-infested farce, and once again the only people who didn’t see this coming was the FIA. You can always trust F1’s powers that be to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

    1. I now actually kinda hope to see something ridiculous like a Caterham on pole thanks to this.

      1. I now actually kinda hope to see something ridiculous like a Caterham on pole thanks to this.

        It would be especially funny at Abu Double.

        1. It would be novel and funny for a race or two, but it would soon become a farce as they wouldn’t be on pole through having a quick car. I’m not even sure how much credit you could give them for reliability as they don’t even produce their own PU components.

          We shall see, maybe it will work out fine in the end.

  4. Pardon my ignorance but I fail to see how the engine change regulations save anyone any money at all. No doubt the idea is that each team pays for only five engines (and other components) per year but that’s not true. They have to have more than that to cover circumstances such as Kvyat has fallen victim to. So where’s the saving? Are we supposed to believe that, when a sixth engine is needed, the team just orders a new one and the manufacturer promptly gets the machines running again and pops out another? I’m sorry but the whole thing looks to me like just another FIA scheme to make themselves look good while the teams foot the bill and the fans have races spoiled by penalties for drivers’ bad luck.

    1. @clive-allen

      Are we supposed to believe that, when a sixth engine is needed, the team just orders a new one and the manufacturer promptly gets the machines running again and pops out another?

      No. But go back before a limit and teams would have one engine per race and special engines for qualifying sessions. That’s 38 per driver, not counting practice and testing. Compared to having five, six or seven per year that is clearly a massive saving.

      The limits on the number of engines a team can use per season is probably one of the best examples of how F1 has been able to make genuine and significant cost reductions through the regulations.

      1. Not only that, but the difference between 5 and 6 engines is still very close to 20% extra manufacturing costs. Of course there are reserve engines and they are not made one by one – but they already knew the limits when they started manufacturing. If the allowance was one more engine, all the manufacturers would have released more powerful engines with shorter lifespans and they’d have increased their production accordingly. There’d have beem no less reason for Ferrari to have got the calculation wrong and had to give Kvyat a 7th ICE in Monza, so they would still have produced an extra engine per driver.

      2. @keithcollantine
        I understand that 38 engines should be a darn site more expensive than 5-6 Or 7 , but isnt that saving made and taken by the Engine manufacturer ?

        I just thought teams would pay a per year figure for the supply of engines?

        So my question would be , do teams pay a per year fee for the amount needed to get the year done ? Or per engine?

        Im also just guessing but wouldn’t 5-7 of these new v6 ‘s and all their ancillaries cost about the same as 38 of the old engines! :)

  5. The party has just started !!!! The thing is nothing is granted for anyone apart from 1st place in the WCC. Abu Double is going to be interesting to see this year !!!

  6. How will the Mercs manage their grid drops ? At the same time ?
    Start the dynamic duo side by side or 10 places apart ,

    The cries of injustice for future races can be heard warming up already in the bellies of the believ-ed :)

    And if we get

  7. (From previous)
    And if we get Engine penalties by many teams at once it will hardly shake up the grid anyway !

    Example !

    What if 15 cars take a new engine in abu dbl , rather than run a high mileage old rattler ?

  8. Nick Jarvis (@)
    7th September 2014, 0:16

    Gotta say, that photo is fantastic

  9. The new engines are more expensive than the v8s were the past few years but there significantly cheaper than what used to be spent on engines before that & by having the restrictions on # of units/components is a significant saving on what teams would spend if they could use as many as they wanted.

    Its also important to remember that when the engine/component limits were been finalized both the teams & manufacturer’s were included in the discussions & the 5 figure was agreed to by them & not something the FIA just came up with & pushed through without consultation.

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