China: Mercedes and Ferrari change everything, or almost!
Before Saturday's race day, several teams have already installed new components on some of their cars. Here's a look at these replacements.
The Chinese Grand Prix is an opportunity to review the mechanical components that may have been changed since the start of the season. Thus, the FIA, through several official documents, enables tracking, throughout a race weekend, of all replacement operations carried out on the cars.
This season, such a series of information is of utmost importance, as the Sporting Regulations (article 28.4a) require teams to adhere to a maximum quota of five power units per car. These include a set of six components that can themselves be replaced individually, within the limit of five.
These parts are:
– le moteur thermique
– le turbocompresseur
– la batterie
– le MGU-K
– le MGU-H
– l’unité de contrôle électronique
Beyond these quotas, penalties of 5 or 10 places on the grid may be applied.
Thus, before Saturday’s session and the qualifications, here are all the elements that have been modified on the cars.
Changes made to the power unit components
| Driver | Team | Part replaced | Parts used before replacement | Before the | |
| Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | turbocharger | 1 | FP3 | |
| MGU-H | 1 | FP3 | |||
| Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull-Renault | turbocharger | 1 | FP3 | |
| MGU-H | 1 | FP3 | |||
| Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | internal combustion engine | 1 | FP1 | |
| turbocharger | 1 | FP1 | |||
| MGU-K | 1 | FP1 | |||
| MGU-H | 1 | FP1 | |||
| Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | internal combustion engine | 1 | FP1 | |
| turbocharger | 1 | FP1 | |||
| MGU-K | 1 | FP1 | |||
| MGU-H | 1 | FP1 | |||
| Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | internal combustion engine | 1 | FP1 | |
| turbocharger | 1 | FP1 | |||
| MGU-K | 1 | FP1 | |||
| MGU-H | 1 | FP1 | |||
| battery | 1 | FP1 | |||
| control unit elec. | 1 | FP1 | |||
| Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | internal combustion engine | 1 | FP1 | |
| MGU-K | 1 | FP1 | |||
| battery | 1 | FP1 | |||
| control unit elec. | 2 | FP1 | |||
| Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | internal combustion engine | 1 | FP1 | |
| turbocharger | 1 | FP1 | |||
| MGU-H | 1 | FP1 | |||
| Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | internal combustion engine | 1 | FP1 | |
| turbocharger | 1 | FP1 | |||
| MGU-K | 1 | FP1 | |||
| MGU-H | 1 | FP1 | |||
| Kevin Magnussen | McLaren-Mercedes | internal combustion engine | 1 | FP1 | |
| turbocharger | 1 | FP1 | |||
| MGU-K | 1 | FP1 | |||
| MGU-H | 1 | FP1 | |||
| Nico Hülkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | internal combustion engine | 1 | FP1 | |
| turbocharger | 1 | FP1 | |||
| MGU-K | 1 | FP1 | |||
| MGU-H | 1 | FP1 | |||
| Sergio Pérez | Force India-Mercedes | internal combustion engine | 1 | FP1 | |
| turbocharger | 1 | FP1 | |||
| MGU-K | 1 | FP1 | |||
| MGU-H | 1 | FP1 | |||
| Adrian Sutil | Sauber-Ferrari | internal combustion engine | 1 | FP1 | |
| turbocharger | 1 | FP1 | |||
| MGU-K | 1 | FP1 | |||
| MGU-H | 1 | FP1 | |||
| battery | 2 | FP1 | |||
| control unit elec. | 2 | FP1 | |||
| Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | internal combustion engine | 1 | FP1 | |
| turbocharger | 1 | FP1 | |||
| MGU-K | 1 | FP1 | |||
| MGU-H | 1 | FP1 | |||
| battery | 1 | FP1 | |||
| control unit elec. | 2 | FP1 | |||
| Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Renault | turbocharger | 1 | FP3 | |
| MGU-H | 1 | FP3 | |||
| Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso-Renault | turbocharger | 1 | FP3 | |
| MGU-H | 1 | FP3 | |||
| Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | internal combustion engine | 1 | FP1 | |
| turbocharger | 1 | FP1 | |||
| MGU-K | 1 | FP1 | |||
| MGU-H | 1 | FP1 | |||
| Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | internal combustion engine | 1 | FP1 | |
| turbocharger | 1 | FP1 | |||
| MGU-K | 1 | FP1 | |||
| MGU-H | 1 | FP1 | |||
| Jules Bianchi | Marussia-Ferrari | battery | 1 | FP1 | |
| control unit elec. | 2 | FP1 | |||
| MGU-K | 1 | FP3 | |||
| Max Chilton | Marussia-Ferrari | battery | 1 | FP1 | |
| control unit elec. | 2 | FP1 | |||
| MGU-K | 1 | FP3 | |||
| Kamui Kobayashi | Caterham-Renault | internal combustion engine | 1 | FP1 | |
| turbocharger | 1 | FP1 | |||
| MGU-H | 1 | FP1 | |||
| Marcus Ericsson | Caterham-Renault | internal combustion engine | 1 | FP1 | |
| turbocharger | 1 | FP1 | |||
| MGU-H | 1 | FP1 |
Gearbox changes
Regarding gearboxes, they must complete 6 consecutive Grand Prix races. However, if there is a retirement in the previous race, drivers are free to change them without incurring the usual 5-place grid penalty. This is the case for the 5 drivers who made a replacement this weekend.
| Driver | Team | Announced before | |
| Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | FP3 | |
| Kevin Magnussen | McLaren-Mercedes | FP3 | |
| Adrian Sutil | Sauber-Ferrari | FP3 | |
| Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber-Ferrari | FP3 | |
| Jean-Eric Vergne | Toro Rosso-Renault | FP3 |