How Engine Penalties Could Decide F1 Championship Between Verstappen, Hamilton

• Under Formula 1 regulations, each driver is only permitted three power units per season before taking a penalty that relegates them to the back of the starting grid.

• Championship contenders Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton are each on their third and final allotted power unit.

• Ahead of round 13 of 22 scheduled races, every driver on the grid has utilized their permitted allocation of engines, meaning they now have to strike a delicate balance.

With nine of the scheduled 22 races remaining in the 2021 Formula 1 schedule, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton are separated by only three points.

They will start Saturday’s Sprint qualifying race at Monza—Formula 1’s format shake-up qualifying system making its second appearance—from third and second on the grid, respectively.

The driver who will start Saturday’s Sprint from the pole position, based on the top lap speed in Friday’s qualifying session, already knows that he’ll be lining up for Sunday’s main Grand Prix from 20th and last—even if he ends up winning the 18-lap Sprint race that will be used to set the grid.

That’s because Mercedes has made a strategic call to equip Valtteri Bottas’ W12 with a fourth power unit of the season. Under Formula 1 regulations, each driver is only permitted three power units per season before taking a penalty that relegates them to the back of the grid. Teams have to balance reliability and performance through the course of the season. And already some are running into issues.

Bottas isn’t the first driver to do so nor the first front-runner. Red Bull fitted Sergio Perez’s car with a fourth power unit at the preceding event at Zandvoort, taking the hit after a bad qualifying in which he was only 16th. Red Bull knew Perez would face a drop at some point after his power unit was damaged in the first-lap chaos at the Hungaroring, and bit the bullet after his Q1 dropout. From his 20th starting spot, he recovered to finish eighth. Bottas will have to adopt a similar surge on Sunday at Monza.