F1 engine penalties explained: Why drivers get grid drops and how they work

It's not unusual, especially in the second half of an F1 season, to see drivers being sent backward on the starting grid with what are often referred to as 'engine penalties'.

The rules currently stipulate a restriction on the number of power unit components that teams can use over the course of a season, triggering a penalty whenever that limit is exceeded.

Teams naturally try to avoid taking grid penalties wherever possible, but those limits are usually met over time - which is why the penalties are more commonly seen in the second half of the year.

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Why do F1 drivers get engine penalties?

Like so many relatively recent changes to F1, the introduction of power unit component restrictions and resultant penalties largely comes down to money.

The ability to burn through an engine per race weekend - or even multiple engines at a single weekend - was yet another in-built advantage to rich teams like Ferrari, focused solely on performance, while less monied teams had to make their engines stretch much longer.

A new engine is a fast engine, and being able to really turn up the wick every weekend without worrying too much about whether the horses powering the car would be on their last legs by the chequered flag was another pace differentiator.

Ultimately, F1 was faced with an economics problem. Ensure that engine manufacturers focused on reliability and affordability, or have half the grid drift away as actually being competitive in the sport became overwhelmingly expensive. They chose the former, and have fine-tuned that system since.

What counts as an engine change in F1?

Currently, engine change penalties are applied for changing any one of seven component parts which make up an F1 power unit (more on those to come). The number of each type of part used is logged separately.

Why doesn't every engine change result in a penalty?

Teams can freely change their engines through the season, as long as they don't exceed the limit set on each component. They can also go back and fit previously used power unit components with no penalty, as those are not new parts and have already been counted in their allocation.

How many engines can an F1 driver use per season?

The important thing to note is that the situation isn't as simple as teams lifting out one full engine and popping another one in. That might have been the case in the sport's earlier days, but they're astonishingly complex machines now.

As such, the limits are actually imposed on individual power unit parts - of which the internal combustion engine, the part you might typically think of as the 'engine', is just one of seven.

What is an F1 power unit made of?

Those seven parts? The ICE (Internal Combustion Engine), TC (Turbo Charger), EXH (EXHaust set), MGU-K (Motor Generator Unit – Kinetic), ES (Energy Store unit), PU-CE (Power Unit-Control Electronics unit), and PU-ANC (Power Unit ANCillary component).

How many power unit components are allowed?

The allocation, before you get a penalty, is as follows in 2026:

Do engine allocations reset every season?

Yes, every team begins with a full allocation of power unit parts coming into the first race of the season.

How many grid places do F1 drivers lose for an engine change?

As ever, the short answer is 'it depends'. Each new component outside of the allotted amount triggers its own penalty, and even that depends on how often you've done it.

The maximum penalty a driver could pick up in one race for engine component changes is a 70-place grid drop, while the minimum is just five.

That's because each new component can trigger either a five or 10-place penalty.

What triggers a 10-place grid penalty?

The first time a driver takes a new engine component over the allowed limit, each component triggers a ten-place penalty. That's true of all seven components - so a fifth ICE means 10 places, as does a fifth exhaust set, and so on.

When does a driver receive a five-place grid penalty?

Once a driver has breached the limit for a certain component, every further breach is a five-place penalty. That means that a fifth ICE being installed would cost a driver 10 places, but a sixth, seventh, eighth or more would only cost five places each.

When does an engine penalty mean starting at the back of the grid?

Any penalty can theoretically send someone to the back of the grid - if Valtteri Bottas qualified 19th and picked up a five-place penalty, for example, he'd be starting last.

However, penalties exceeding 15 places now automatically relegate a driver to the back of the grid regardless of where they qualified.

Can multiple engine penalties be applied at once?

Yes, these penalties are all cumulative. When Arvid Lindblad recently took three new components (ICE, turbo charger and exhaust set) for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, each of those carried a 10-place penalty (for the reasons listed above).

Those three 10-place penalties combined for a 30-place grid drop for the young Brit, sending him straight to the back.

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How are engine penalties applied to the starting grid?

This might be one of the most confusing areas but do not worry, we have you covered.

Are engine penalties applied before or after qualifying?

Engine penalties are applied after qualifying, and added to the driver's qualifying position.

What happens when multiple drivers have grid penalties?

Time to get the calculators out. A driver who qualified third but copped 40 places of penalties would start behind someone who qualified 14th but picked up 20 places of penalties. Why? Well, 3+40 is 43, and 14+20 is 34. 43 is worse, so they're at the back.

What happens if a driver qualifies last?

If a driver who qualifies last gets a penalty, they simply remain last.

Can a driver start from the pit lane instead?

Teams can choose for their drivers to start from the pit lane if they also want to make adjustments under parc ferme conditions. However this doesn't usually happen, as starting in the pits is a bigger disadvantage than starting last.

What does it look like when a driver takes an engine penalty?

Here is a hypothetical qualifying result from, let's say, the European Grand Prix at Donington.

However, disaster! George Russell has changed his ICE, turbo and exhaust set for the 16th time this season, so he's picked up a 15-place penalty.

Franco Colapinto is also dropped ten places for taking a new energy store, while Lance Stroll has changed the same parts as Russell – except his are all the first time he's surpassed his allocation, so he takes three ten-place penalties.

That means that the actual starting grid will look like this.

*George Russell has taken a 15-place penalty for engine component changes. **Franco Colapinto has taken a ten-place penalty for engine component changes. ***Lance Stroll has taken a 30-place penalty for engine component changes

Can F1 teams change engines without receiving a grid penalty?

Yes! There are two general ways in which that can happen. The first, and most common, happens when a team uses a new part which is within their allocation.

Can teams reuse an old engine?

Yes. Once a part has been used by a team - F1 say a new power unit component 'is viewed as ‘used’ once the car’s timing transponder shows that it has left the pit lane during an official session' - it goes into their pool of parts which can be swapped in and out without further penalty.

Can an engine be changed between qualifying and the race?

Yes, but this will likely mandate a pit lane start for unauthorised changes under parc ferme conditions.

What happens if an engine is damaged in a crash?

Teams will attempt to salvage any parts they can to add them back into to their pool, but if an engine is completely written off then a full change is necessary, and penalties will be applied where appropriate.

Are there exceptions for reliability problems?

There are not. You use (outside of your allocation) and you lose.

Why do F1 teams sometimes deliberately take engine penalties?

Teams will choose to take engine penalties for any number of reasons, including reliability and performance.

If a team believes a car's power unit is nearing the end of its natural life, they're more likely to bring in new components rather than risk a costly retirement. Also, older engines provide a little less power than brand new ones.

Also, this year's ADUO upgrade system means that most teams have been able to develop and bring one or two power unit upgrades this year. While that's obviously good for the team, bringing a new power unit absolutely counts toward their allocation of components.

Why do teams choose certain circuits to take penalties?

Sometimes teams know they're likely to need an engine change in the next couple of races, for the reasons listed above. In that instance, they try to pick their spots carefully.

Going to or near the back of the grid at tracks like Monaco or the Madring is the racing equivalent of shooting yourself in the foot - it's near impossible to recover positions on track.

However, as Kimi Antonelli and Mercedes showed at Monza, taking a penalty at a track where overtaking is much more possible (and where power plays a bit part) can be significantly less costly. That race, famously, he won from 19th on the grid.

Can a fresh engine outweigh the disadvantage of a grid drop?

No. There's a reason you don't see teams bringing new engines every week and dealing with the grid drops, and it's not just because the sheer number of parts to be built would cripple them under the cost cap.

Why do teams sometimes take several penalties at the same Grand Prix?

Starting from the back for one race is simply less damaging than taking ten-place grid drops at three successive races.

Have F1 engine penalty rules changed over the years?

Yes, significantly. It wasn't until 2004 that there was even a rule that engines had to last a whole race weekend, with a ten-place penalty for any in-weekend engine replacement (the whole engine, not certain components).

How engine penalties worked in previous F1 seasons

From 2005, engines were required to last two weekends each, and a season-long limit was introduced in 2009, mandating a 10-place grid penalty if more than eight engines were used over the course of the 17-race season. This was lauded as part of a major cost-cutting initiative at the time.

The modern system didn't come in until 2014, when teams were limited to five power units per season, with penalties finally being introduced on a per-component basis.

The number of power units has fluctuated since then – four in 2015, five in 2016, four in 2017, three from 2018 to 2023, up to four again in 2024.

What changed under the 2026 F1 power unit regulations?

In terms of penalties, nothing especially sweeping. However, things haven't stopped changing yet. From 2027, each power unit component's allocation will reduce by one, with an exception for teams who are using their own power unit for the first time (see: Cadillac in 2029).

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Written by

Chris Deeley - Editor

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