The tweaked Formula 1 rule that prevented a raft of grid penalties

A few raced into the 2023 Formula 1 season, a change was made to make a minor tweak to the rules around engine component usage.

At the start of the year, drivers were limited to three Internal Combustion Engines, Turbos, MGU-H and MGU-K examples but following the tweak, this was bumped up to four, meaning drivers could use a fourth ICE for example and not earn a penalty.

For the Control Electronics and Energy Store, the allocation remained at two, with drivers also permitted eight exhausts throughout the season - but this has never been a problem for teams.

The table below charts how each driver used their allocation of components throughout the year, with a '5' or higher in the ICE, Turbo, MGU-H and MGU-K columns representing a penalty while a '3' or higher in the ES or CE was worth a penalty.

It should also be noted that engine component allocations are to the car and not the individual driver.

In the case of AlphaTauri, Daniel Ricciardo took over Nyck de Vries' allocation when he got the seat at the Hungarian GP instead of starting afresh.

The same went for Liam Lawson when he replaced the injured Ricciardo, as it also did when the Australian returned in the United States.