Max Verstappen took a grid penalty at the Belgian Grand Prix when Red Bull opted to extend his pool of allowable power unit components.
As the Milton Keynes team has done for the past three season, it strategically chose to take its punishment at Spa-Francorchamps - a circuit it knew allowed for overtaking, and therefore, opportunities to move back through the field.
After an ERS problem at the Canadian Grand Prix, a grid drop was an inevitability for Red Bull and Verstappen. Several power unit parts were damaged, necessitating an additional changes.
In Belgium, the reigning constructors' champions extended Verstappen's Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) pool and his pole position became P11.
He is not completely out of danger, as the 26-year-old is at the maximum across a number of parts, but it is not impossible for him to avoid further sanctions over the remaining 10 rounds - so long as he can continue to draw upon the components already in his allocation.
Sergio Perez is in a similar position, but how does Verstappen stack up against some of his rivals?
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Lando Norris is still yet to break the seal on his fourth power unit elements, so he has an entirely fresh engine to draw upon.
The McLaren driver may well get away with seeing out the remainder of the year without taking a grid penalty, but that is optimistic given the performance advantage of new components and the likelihood that those three complete power units are towards the end of their usable life.
Oscar Piastri is in an identical position to his team-mate. In fact, aside from the Energy Stores and Control Electronics, none of the drivers in the top 10 of the championship, apart from Charles Leclerc, have reached capacity on any given type of component.
The Ferrari driver has reached the maximum allowed Motor Generator Unit-Heat (MGU-H) parts of four, so will almost certainly have to take a penalty in the coming rounds for that.
Despite the small number of drivers already at the threshold, the good news for Red Bull and Verstappen is that the rigours of an F1 season mean most will have to suffer a penalty at some point.
Analysing the main four power unit elements, further down the grid, only Daniel Ricciardo, Esteban Ocon and Alexander Albon are already at the limit.
Meanwhile, Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly are the only two drivers to have extended their pools for those parts - and therefore have already taken penalties.
View the overview of used power unit parts per F1 driver below. Number of allowed components before a penalty in brackets ().
Power unit parts used so far in 2024
| Driver | ICE (4) | TC (4) | MGU-H (4) | MGU-K (4) | ES (2) | CE (2) | EX (8) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Max Verstappen | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| Sergio Perez | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Lando Norris | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Oscar Piastri | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Charles Leclerc | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Carlos Sainz | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| George Russell | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Lewis Hamilton | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Fernando Alonso | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Lance Stroll | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Yuki Tsunoda | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Daniel Ricciardo | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| Nico Hulkenberg | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Kevin Magnussen | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Pierre Gasly | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 6 |
| Esteban Ocon | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Alexander Albon | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Logan Sargeant | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Zhou Guanyu | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Valtteri Bottas | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
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