Component Limits & Penalties

To keep costs under control, each driver is allowed only a fixed number of each power-unit element across the whole season. The PU is not one part but several — and each has its own seasonal allowance.

• Internal-combustion engine (ICE)
• Turbocharger
• MGU-K (the energy recovery motor-generator)
• Energy Store (battery) and Control Electronics

Because each element is counted separately, the penalties can stack: take a fresh ICE *and* a fresh turbo at the same race and the drops add up, which is why a driver who needs new parts will often take several at once and accept a single back-of-grid start rather than bleeding places over multiple weekends. Teams also nurse their hardware with conservative engine modes in practice and lower-stakes races, saving the most stressful settings for when points are truly on the line.

This turns reliability into a strategic resource. A team nursing a fragile engine has to weigh protecting it (and driving more conservatively) against the near-certainty of a back-of-grid start later in the year when they finally need a fresh one.