The Baku event has seen a substantial use of new power units. Despite being only the fourth race of the 2023 Formula One calendar, the reliability issues that emerged in the early races of the season have determined the constructors to be cautious, especially Mercedes after George Russell’s technical failure in the Australian Grand Prix.
Both on the official team and on Aston Martin, Williams, and one on Oscar Piastri’s McLaren (Lando Norris has already switched to the second engine), new ICE, Turbo, MGU-H, and MGU-K were mounted. Tsunoda also had a complete new engine, and the Japanese driver also uses the second Honda power unit of the season.
At Ferrari, new turbos and MGU-Hs were mounted on both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz’s SF-23 cars, a change also made on the two Haas single-seater. A new MGU-K was also mounted on Nico Hulkenberg’s car for the rest of the Baku weekend.
Instead, Pierre Gasly had an unplanned change. After problems with his engine during FP1 (with the rear covered in flames), a complete new PU was needed, installation which was completed in time to be on track before qualifying.
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For the engine manufacturers, however, there was a breath of fresh air thanks to the decision made during last Tuesday’s Formula 1 Commission meeting authorizing the use of a fourth power unit. No constructor had planned to complete the 23 races on the calendar with the three engines previously required by regulation, and the addition of one unit will avoid the rain of penalties that would have arrived in the second half of the 2023 Formula One season.
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