Listed number of power unit elements used after Baku: Ferrari almost at the limit. Ferrari almost at the limit.

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix marks a crucial moment for the rotation of power units in the 2022 Formula 1 season. At first the Azerbaijani stage was designated by several teams for the introduction of the second engine of 2022, exactly at the beginning of the second third of the championship and therefore the best moment to respect the limit of the three power units allowed for the current campaign.

Subsequently, the race saw the retirement of four Ferrari-powered cars for technical reasons, although the causes of the breakdowns were of different natures, with many complications for the rest of the season for the Prancing Horse’s power units.

Starting from the choices made ahead of the weekend, in Baku Red Bull has started the rotation of its power units. The first power unit of each car, used in all seven events held before the Azerbaijani stage, can be reused in the free practice sessions of the next trips, thus reducing the mileage for the second engine. Max Verstappen’s RB18 was equipped with a new turbocharger, MGU-K and MGU-H, while the replacements for Sergio Perez were limited to just the MGU-K and combustion engine. The Mexican had in fact resorted to a second turbo and MGU-H starting from the Jeddah race, which is why it is understandable the desire of the Milton Keynes team to try to extend the life of these units.

Like Red Bull, the second power units of 2022 were also mounted in Baku on the single-seaters of Ricciardo, Stroll, Albon and Latifi, all powered by Mercedes. The Brixworth engines thus demonstrate that they have the potential to not exceed the limit of three PU per season. In this regard, it is interesting to underline the different strategy with respect to the official team, which having started the rotation of its units already in Spain sends signals to have foreseen the use of at least four engines over the course of the championship. Also noteworthy in Azerbaijan are the new combustion engine for Valtteri Bottas, the replacement of the MGU-K on Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin and the third turbocharger for Mick Schumacher. The Ferrari junior from Haas mounted the fourth element of the season, thus reaching the limit and finding himself at risk of grid penalties at the next substitution.

Charles Leclerc’s weekend instead deserves a dedicated analysis. The Monegasque used the third turbocharger of the year after the failure of the second unit in Spain, an episode which excluded Monaco with the reuse of the turbo run at the beginning of the championship. The failures that Ferrari subsequently experienced in the race and the logistical difficulties in sending the engines to Maranello before landing in Canada will almost certainly require new replacements already in Montreal, not yet counted in the table below. The failure suffered by Charles Leclerc would seem to be linked to the combustion engine, whose replacement in North America would not yet lead to a penalty on the grid. A similar situation for Carlos Sainz and Ganyu Zhou, both at two units for each component and therefore still below the limit of three annual replacements, while Kevin Magnussen will have to hope that the failure suffered in Baku does not require the change of the MGU-K .

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The calculation of the replacements at the level of power unit manufacturers is useful to outline the picture of the reliability of the individual engines, although it has no regulatory implications. Mercedes is the only engine manufacturer who remains at an average of only two units per car regarding the combustion engine, turbocharger, MGU-H and MGU-K. The highest values ​​of Red Bull Powertrain are attributable to the preparation and management problems of the ex-Honda engines at the beginning of the year, especially at AlphaTauri, apparently resolved having no longer suffered breakdowns from the Melbourne stage onwards. Ferrari, on the other hand, pays for the inherent reliability problems in its engines that have gradually emerged with the evolution of the championship, while the situation at Alpine is much more enigmatic: its last replacement dates back to the Spanish Grand Prix.