How grid penalties will affect the Verstappen-Norris title battle

With six GPs and three Sprints remaining in this year’s Formula 1 championship, it seems almost certain that title contenders Max Verstappen and Lando Norris will need to use at least one more fresh component out of a total of 6 of which consists of the power unit of their car.

Each F1 driver has a certain number of each of these six components available for the entire year. Specifically, for the V6 engine, the Turbo and the MGU-K and MGU-H electric motors, the limit is four for the entire season. For the battery (Energy Store) and the central electronic group (CE) the limit is two.

When a driver exceeds this number, for each component individually, he is penalized with a penalty of 5 to 10 places at the start. With 10 seats the first time the limit is exceeded, and with 5 for each subsequent time.

Both Verstappen and Norris now have none of the six spares available within the prescribed limits, and any new ones they use will come with a place penalty.

The trouble for Max started when he lost one of his four V6 engines due to electrical problems at the Canadian GP. Thus, RBR was already forced to opt for a fifth thermal engine earlier than planned, opting to serve the 10-place penalty of this move at the Belgian GP.

Since then the same engine has done 5 races, therefore it seems difficult to take out – perhaps sharing them with an older engine – the remaining 6 GPs and 3 Sprints. If he chooses sixth for this year, he will receive a penalty of 5 places.

Conversely, if Norris needs the same component when crossing the line for the first time, he will receive a 10-place penalty – meaning the Briton is disadvantaged in this regard in the title race.

But where will RBR and McLaren choose, if they do end up having to, to serve the sentence of changing one (or more) of their power unit components? Usually teams choose tracks that favor overtaking in order to recover lost positions.

Obviously they will not choose this three days, in Texas, because the new parts should make 6 GP and 3 Sprint. Overtaking, then, is difficult in Mexico, so the first realistic opportunity to change a component is at the third GP of the trio, in Brazil – as the Interlago circuit offers two good overtaking spots, including the DRS straight.

Lewis Hamilton did something similar in 2021, and in that race – perhaps the best of his F1 career – he made countless passes before cruising to a triumphant victory.

So we see that in the Verstappen-Norris battle for this year’s title, the parameter of not only the starting position penalty, but also when each of the two will have fresher mechanical parts comes into play.