Grid Penalty – Page 2 – Syndication Server

Horner says it’s inevitable Verstappen will take an engine penalty this year

Max Verstappen will have to take a power unit penalty at some stage of the current Formula 1 season as a result of problems suffered earlier in the year. The championship leader had to take a new power unit during the Canadian Grand Prix weekend …

Max Verstappen will have to take a power unit penalty at some stage of the current Formula 1 season as a result of problems suffered earlier in the year.

The championship leader had to take a new power unit during the Canadian Grand Prix weekend after an issue in Friday practice. Following the decision to take a new power unit on Sergio Perez’s car at Silverstone — with the Mexican already starting at the back of the grid — Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says at some stage there will be a similar penalty for Verstappen.

“I’m sure at some point we’ll end up taking an extra engine for Max,” Horner said. “It’s just a question of when you choose strategically to do that. So we’ll work with Honda on that. Inevitably, we will take a penalty at some point in the year.”

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1388]

Verstappen has extended his championship lead to 84 points over the past five races despite only winning two of those, and Horner believes the fluctuating form that has seen four teams winning in 2024 is down to getting performance out of different tire compounds.

“Lots of data and information to take out of that, to understand where these big fluctuations [come from],” Horner said, “because at different points in time, different cars looked quick. One minute, it started off as Mercedes, then it looked like McLaren had everything under control, and then suddenly, second half of the race, Max started coming back and very nearly won it. For the fans… a fantastic race. But obviously a lot to try and understand where the fluctuations are coming from.

“I think it’s all about these tires. I think it’s all about the tire working at a certain point in time, certain condition, whether it’s hot or cold. Different cars working the tires in different ways, and you saw an extremity of that as a circuit [Silverstone] obviously went from damp to wet to damp to back to dry.”

Despite the difficulty of trying to understand the competitive order and fight off challenges from multiple teams from a Red Bull perspective, Horner admits it’s a scenario that is good for the sport as a whole.

“I think Formula 1 can’t be in a better place at the moment. If you look at the last five or six races, we’ve had Lewis [Hamilton], we’ve had Lando [Norris], we’ve had Max, we’ve had Charles Leclerc… It’s moving around,” he noted. “And the only one that’s managed to be there consistently, has been Max. So I think the sport, you can see by the crowds that it’s delivering and so on, and I’m sure Lewis’s win was a very popular win in front of a home crowd.”

Engine change penalties for Armstrong, Fittipaldi and Rosenqvist at Mid-Ohio

IndyCar has announced six-position starting grid penalties for the No. 11 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda driven by Marcus Armstrong, No. 30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda of Pietro Fittipaldi and No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda of Felix Rosenqvist for this weekend’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The penalties were assessed for unapproved engine changes following the team test last Thursday at Iowa Speedway.

The teams were in violation of:

Rule 16.1.2.3.2. A fifth engine is eligible to earn engine manufacturer points if a full season entrant has completed the full season entrant engine mileage with its first four engines. Otherwise, a fifth or more engine does not earn engine manufacturer points and will be considered an unapproved engine change-out.

According to Rule 16.1.6.1.2., the penalty is a six-position starting grid penalty on road and street course events and nine positions at oval events and will be served at the series’ next event.

Gasly to take grid penalty at Silverstone over PU limits

Pierre Gasly will start from the back of the grid at this weekend’s British Grand Prix due to exceeding the maximum number of power unit components allowed per season. The Alpine driver has already taken a fifth internal combustion engine (ICE), …

Pierre Gasly will start from the back of the grid at this weekend’s British Grand Prix due to exceeding the maximum number of power unit components allowed per season.

The Alpine driver has already taken a fifth internal combustion engine (ICE), turbocharger, MGU-H, MGU-K — exceeding the limit of four — as well as a third control electronics that is outside the maximum permitted two. With more than a 15-place grid penalty in total, the regulations state that Gasly must start from the back of the grid.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1388]

The Frenchman is on a run of four consecutive point-scoring finishes for Alpine stretching back to his 10th place in the Monaco Grand Prix, finishing ninth in Canada and Spain and tenth again last weekend in Austria.

Gasly is the first driver to take a grid penalty for exceeding power unit components so far this season, with Alpine opting to do so at Silverstone due to the fact it’s a power-sensitive track. The weather forecast has also been taken into account, with rain impacting Friday’s track running and more showers expected at different stages on Saturday and Sunday.

Detroit grid penalties for two Honda drivers

Honda’s string of reliability woes with its NTT IndyCar Series engines in 2024 has hit two of its drivers at an unexpectedly early phase of the season. With the series’ engine lease and usage rules calling for each entry to receive four motors for …

Honda’s string of reliability woes with its NTT IndyCar Series engines in 2024 has hit two of its drivers at an unexpectedly early phase of the season.

With the series’ engine lease and usage rules calling for each entry to receive four motors for up to 10,000 miles of competition each season, the need to go to a fifth engine (or more) is treated as a breach of IndyCar’s regulations. Going beyond the four motors is considered an “unapproved engine change” and comes with a six-position grid penalty for the driver and, once the fifth motor is installed, that entry is no longer eligible to score points for its engine supplier in the manufacturers’ championship.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1408]

In 2022, IndyCar’s first penalty for exceeding the four engines came towards the end of July. In 2023, it took place in early August. The announcement of fifth-motor penalties for Kyffin Simpson with the No. 4 Chip Ganassi Racing and Graham Rahal in No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing on May 31 are the earliest in memory.

To date, five points-paying IndyCar races have been held in 2024, with the non-championship event at The Thermal Club counting as the sixth. Twelve races remain on the calendar.

Sainz ‘in disbelief’ at 10-place grid penalty for exceeding PU components

Carlos Sainz says he is “in disbelief” at the10-place grid penalty he was given for the Las Vegas Grand Prix as a result of exceeding power unit components – a situation caused by his car hitting a drain cover in FP1. The Ferrari driver struck the …

Carlos Sainz says he is “in disbelief” at the10-place grid penalty he was given for the Las Vegas Grand Prix as a result of exceeding power unit components — a situation caused by his car hitting a drain cover in FP1.

The Ferrari driver struck the loose drain at 200mph and suffered significant damage to the chassis as well as power unit components as the engine cut off as a result. After changing the chassis, Ferrari also had to change the internal combustion engine (ICE), energy store (ES) and control electronics (CE), with the energy store requiring a third of that component.

Drivers are limited to two energy stores per season so Ferrari lobbied the stewards for a reprieve due to the cause of the damage to it, but the request was refused based on the regulations.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1388]

“Having heard from (Ferrari), the director of the FIA Single Seater Department, having viewed video evidence and examined the team’s declaration sheet, the stewards determine that, notwithstanding the fact that the damage was caused by highly unusual external circumstances, Article 2.1 of the Formula 1 Sporting Regulations obliges all officials, including the stewards, to apply the regulations as they are written.

“Accordingly, the mandatory penalty specified under Article 28.3 of the Sporting Regulations must be applied.

“The stewards note that if they had the authority to grant a derogation in what they consider in this case to be mitigating, unusual and unfortunate circumstances, they would have done so, however the regulations do not allow such action.”

As a result, Sainz was given a grid drop of 10 positions for Saturday night’s grand prix. The Spaniard was at least able to compete in FP2 due to the delays that were encountered to allow for track repairs, posting second-fastest time to teammate Charles Leclerc, but that was scant consolation for him when told of the penalty.

“You can clearly see this weekend we are relatively competitive as I think that the track layout is suiting us a bit more compared to the last few, and we seem to be switching on the tires well over one lap,” Sainz said. “So I was quite excited and optimistic.

“Unfortunately, as the session finished the team communicated to me that I was taking a 10-place grid penalty, for something that I have no fault and the team has no fault. This has obviously completely changed my mindset and my opinion on how the weekend is going to go from now on. You can obviously imagine how disappointed and in disbelief with the situation I am, and you will not see me very happy this weekend.

“Yes, there will be opportunities (to overtake). But as I said, right now I’m just too disappointed with the outcome and I don’t want to talk too much about the future because what happened today for me is a very clear example of how this sport can be improved in so many ways. FIA, teams, rules that could clearly be applied as force majeure for me not to take a penalty, but somehow people always (find) some ways to make the situation worse for an individual and I think in this case it’s my turn to pay the price.”

Dixon takes grid penalty at Laguna

Scott Dixon will take a six-place grid penalty for today’s NTT IndyCar Series season finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for an unapproved engine change. Dixon, who qualified the No.9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda fifth yesterday, becomes the …

Scott Dixon will take a six-place grid penalty for today’s NTT IndyCar Series season finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for an unapproved engine change.

Dixon, who qualified the No.9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda fifth yesterday, becomes the fourth driver to take on a new engine in exchange for a hit to his grid position, joining Augustin Canapino (Juncos Hollinger Chevrolet), Santino Ferrucci (A.J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet) and Juri Vips (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda).

As with the others, Dixon’s penalty is in line with Rule 16.2.3.2, which states:

“A fifth (5th) Engine is eligible to earn Engine Manufacturer points if a Full Season Entrant has completed the Full Season Entrant Engine Mileage with its first four (4) Engines. Otherwise, a fifth (5th) or more Engine does not earn Engine Manufacturer points and will be considered an Unapproved Engine change-out.

“According to Rule 16.6.1.2, the penalty is a six-position starting grid penalty on road and street course events and nine positions at oval events and will be served at the series’ next event, which is the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey Sunday, Sept. 10 in Monterey, California.”

Laguna grid penalty for Vips

IndyCar has announced a six-position starting grid penalty for the No. 30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda entry, driven by rookie Juri Vips, for an unapproved engine change following Friday practice at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. The team …

The team was in violation of Rule 16.2.3.2: “A fifth (5th) Engine is eligible to earn Engine Manufacturer points if a Full Season Entrant has completed the Full Season Entrant Engine Mileage with its first four (4) Engines. Otherwise, a fifth (5th) or more Engine does not earn Engine Manufacturer points and will be considered an Unapproved Engine change-out.”

The penalty for the RLL entry is the second of the weekend thus far, following Friday’s announcement of a similar penalty for the Juncos Hollinger No. 78 Chevrolet driven by Augustin Canapino.

Grid penalty at Laguna for Canapino

The final race of Agustin Canapino’s rookie NTT IndyCar Series season will come with some extra distance required to reach the front of the grid. The Juncos Hollinger Racing driver is the latest to receive a six-position grid penalty for an …

The final race of Agustin Canapino’s rookie NTT IndyCar Series season will come with some extra distance required to reach the front of the grid.

The Juncos Hollinger Racing driver is the latest to receive a six-position grid penalty for an unapproved engine change. Despite the setback, the Argentinian will have a fresh 2.2-liter twin-turbo V6 Chevrolet engine to help in his quest to earn Rookie of the Year honors.

According to IndyCar’s rulebook, “Rule 16.2.3.2 A fifth (5th) Engine is eligible to earn Engine Manufacturer points if a Full Season Entrant has completed the Full Season Entrant Engine Mileage with its first four (4) Engines. Otherwise, a fifth (5th) or more Engine does not earn Engine Manufacturer points and will be considered an Unapproved Engine change-out.”

Palou joins grid penalty pack at WWTR

IndyCar has announced another nine-position starting grid penalty for today’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway, this one for the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda of championship leader Alex Palou, for an unapproved …

The team was in violation of:

Rule 16.2.3.2 A fifth (5th) Engine is eligible to earn Engine Manufacturer points if a Full Season Entrant has completed the Full Season Entrant Engine Mileage with its first four (4) Engines. Otherwise, a fifth (5th) or more Engine does not earn Engine Manufacturer points and will be considered an Unapproved Engine change-out.

According to Rule 16.6.1.2, the penalty is a six-position starting grid penalty on road and street course events and nine positions at oval events.

Palou’s No. 10 joins Scott McLaughlin’s No. 3 Team Penske Chevy, Scott Dixon’s No. 9 and Takuma Sato’s No. 11 Chip Ganassi Racing Hondas, Kyle Kirkwood’s No. 27 Andretti Autosport Honda and No. Agustin Canapino’s No. 78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevy who will take grid penalties for this race.

Five teams hit with engine change grid penalties for WWTR

Five entries for this weekend’s NTT IndyCar Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway will receive nine-spot grid penalties for making unapproved engine changes. Scott McLaughlin’s No. 3 Team Penske Chevy, Scott Dixon’s No. 9 and Takuma Sato’s …

Five entries for this weekend’s NTT IndyCar Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway will receive nine-spot grid penalties for making unapproved engine changes.

Scott McLaughlin’s No. 3 Team Penske Chevy, Scott Dixon’s No. 9 and Takuma Sato’s No. 11 Chip Ganassi Racing Hondas, Kyle Kirkwood’s No. 27 Andretti Autosport Honda and No. Agustin Canapino’s No. 78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevy all installed their fifth engines of the season, and per IndyCar’s rules, only the four engines included in each annual lease are permitted for use without consequence.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1408]

Rule 16.2.3.2 reads, “A fifth Engine is eligible to earn Engine Manufacturer points if a Full Season Entrant has completed the Full Season Entrant Engine Mileage with its first four Engines. Otherwise, a fifth or more Engine does not earn Engine Manufacturer points and will be considered an Unapproved Engine change-out.”