Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, Circuit de Catalunya, 2019

Kvyat to start at back of grid after power unit change

2019 French Grand Prix

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Daniil Kvyat will start the French Grand Prix from the back of the grid after taking a complete new power unit for this weekend’s race.

The Toro Rosso driver has taken a new engine, turbocharger, MGU-H, MGU-K, energy store and control electronics. As he has now used more engines, MGU-Ks, energy stores and control electronics than permitted by the rules he will incur a grid penalty totalling more than 15 places, meaning he has to start the race from the back of the grid.

Kvyat is the only one of the two Toro Rosso drivers using Honda’s upgrade power unit this weekend. Both Red Bull drivers have taken new engines, turbochargers and MGU-Hs but will not incur any penalties.

Renault has also introduced a new engine but will only run it in Daniel Ricciardo’s car. Nico Hulkenberg has already exceeded the maximum number of engine changes he can make without a penalty.

Power unit components used as of first practice for the French Grand Prix

No. Car Engine Driver ICE TC MGU-H MGU-K ES CE
27 Renault Renault Nico Hulkenberg 4 4 4 3 2 3
26 Toro Rosso Honda Daniil Kvyat 4 3 3 3 3 3
55 McLaren Renault Carlos Sainz Jnr 3 3 3 2 2 2
3 Renault Renault Daniel Ricciardo 3 3 3 2 2 2
33 Red Bull Honda Max Verstappen 3 3 3 2 2 2
10 Red Bull Honda Pierre Gasly 3 3 3 2 2 2
18 Racing Point Mercedes Lance Stroll 3 3 3 2 1 1
23 Toro Rosso Honda Alexander Albon 3 2 2 2 2 2
99 Alfa Romeo Ferrari Antonio Giovinazzi 2 2 2 1 2 3
20 Haas Ferrari Kevin Magnussen 2 2 2 1 2 3
4 McLaren Renault Lando Norris 2 2 2 2 2 2
63 Williams Mercedes George Russell 2 2 2 1 2 2
8 Haas Ferrari Romain Grosjean 2 2 2 1 2 2
7 Alfa Romeo Ferrari Kimi Raikkonen 2 2 2 1 2 2
5 Ferrari Ferrari Sebastian Vettel 2 2 2 1 1 2
16 Ferrari Ferrari Charles Leclerc 2 2 2 1 1 2
11 Racing Point Mercedes Sergio Perez 2 2 2 1 1 1
77 Mercedes Mercedes Valtteri Bottas 2 2 2 1 1 1
31 Williams Mercedes Robert Kubica 2 2 2 1 1 1
44 Mercedes Mercedes Lewis Hamilton 2 2 2 1 1 1

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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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3 comments on “Kvyat to start at back of grid after power unit change”

  1. Interesting. Bit of a shame for Kvyat, as points look like a realistic outcome for Toro Rosso here.

    The “interesting” part for me, however, is the fact that this represents the first meaningful piece of information concerning the reliability of the Honda PU in 2019. Kvyat has been able to complete 7 race weekends (out of 21) without exceeding the maximum amount of engine components. Compare that to last year’s engine usage by Toro Rosso (Brendon Hartley used 8 engines in the first 11 races), and you can’t help but notice that they have in fact improved considerably.
    Last year, I remarked that:

    Honda have to improve their reliability by a factor of 4 to 6 to get in the mix with the big names.

    With Kvyat, they’re still off that goal by a factor of 3. In other words, it’s bittersweet. Clearly improved but still a long way behind. And it’s not like Kvyat is an extreme outlier, his fellow Honda users are right on his tail.

    1. or they want a head to head comparison with the old engine?

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