Silverstone marks the midpoint of the Formula 1 World Championship season, and many teams have taken advantage of this occasion to introduce fresh Power Units during a race weekend where having a new engine can offer a slight performance advantage. Both Scuderia Ferrari and Mercedes, which had already changed engines at the Canadian Grand Prix, have now reached their fourth Power Unit of the season. In total, fourteen drivers have replaced their internal combustion engines (ICE), including prominent names like Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, and Oscar Piastri.
Although the traditional summer break, usually the turning point in the championship, has not yet arrived, the Silverstone race weekend effectively represents the halfway point in the 2025 Formula 1 season. For many teams, it serves as the perfect opportunity to install a new Power Unit.
On a circuit like Silverstone, characterized by long straights and several full-throttle sections, a fresh Power Unit can indeed make a significant difference in terms of performance and reliability. Looking ahead to the second half of the season, several teams have opted to fit new engines, including those who had already performed recent replacements, such as Ferrari and Mercedes, both of which have now reached their fourth engine unit—the maximum allowed before incurring a penalty under the current regulations.
Both the Ferrari team from Maranello and the Mercedes works team had introduced their third Power Unit two races ago in Canada, but at Silverstone, they upgraded to the fourth unit. This upgrade also included a new turbocharger and both motor generator units (MGU-K and MGU-H). On Ferrari’s cars, a second—and final—battery allowed by the regulations was installed, along with a new exhaust system.
At the beginning of the season, Enrico Gualtieri, head of Ferrari’s Power Unit division, clarified that the team had planned a rotation strategy based on the specific characteristics of each circuit. He emphasized that since the engines are frozen—meaning no technical development is allowed—they are essentially identical in terms of components. Therefore, the close timing of many Power Unit changes is more a matter of strategic management of engine usage rather than an urgent necessity.
“The Power Units in the pool are increasingly similar, if not identical, in terms of components,” explained Enrico Gualtieri. “This allows us to make deployment choices tailored to each specific event. We can apply an even more targeted usage strategy, extracting the last fraction of available performance without the constraints linked to technical specifications that previously characterized each evolutionary step.”
Staying within the Ferrari sphere, several components including the engine have also been replaced on the Haas car driven by Oliver Bearman and the two Sauber cars piloted by Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto. For the British Haas driver, this is the fourth Power Unit, justified also by the failure suffered during the Miami Grand Prix. For the two Sauber drivers, it is the third fresh engine out of the four allowed.
A similar situation is observed at Mercedes, where most drivers equipped with the German manufacturer’s Power Unit have performed replacements ahead of Silverstone. Both Fernando Alonso and the two Mercedes race drivers had already installed new Power Units at the Canadian Grand Prix following technical issues in previous races and are now on their fourth unit—the last permitted before penalties apply.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will also have fresh Power Units for Silverstone, but in their case, it will be their third of the four allowed by the regulations, thus leaving one more replacement available for the second half of the season.
Interestingly, Williams has chosen not to replace the engine, despite Alex Albon’s Power Unit showing signs of degradation between the Canadian and Austrian Grands Prix, where he was forced to retire. It will be interesting to see if further component changes occur on Grove’s cars on Saturday. So far, the only modification concerns Carlos Sainz’s car, which has been fitted with a new battery and an additional control unit.
In total, fourteen drivers have replaced their engines ahead of the Silverstone race weekend, including teams equipped with Honda Power Units. On Max Verstappen’s car, the internal combustion engine and the MGU-K have been replaced, while the turbocharger and MGU-H—already on their third unit—have not been changed, as Red Bull had already intervened on these components in previous races.
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