Red Bull confim Monza engine changes
ByAutoSport
Published 02/09/2015 at 12:46 GMT
Red Bull drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat will definitely receive grid penalties for another Renault engine change ahead of this weekend's Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix.
Eurosport
Image credit: Eurosport
Team principal Christian Horner suggested after the last race in Belgium that it was "most likely" both RB11s would require a sixth engine ahead of F1's trip to the power circuit that is Monza.
Horner has now confirmed Ricciardo and Kvyat will be handed 10-place penalties, as it will be the first time a sixth element of the power unit will have been used this season.
"We'll be taking a penalty this weekend with both cars, which will be power unit six," confirmed Horner, speaking to AUTOSPORT.
"We're out of mileage on the units we've got, and we need to do what we can to get to the end of the year.
"We've decided to take it tactically at Monza because it's a track where you are flat out for 75 per cent of it, so of course it's not going to be our strongest circuit of the year."
The Renault system has this season proven itself to be considerably down on power compared to rivals Mercedes and Ferrari, while even newcomers Honda believe they now have a 25hp advantage on Renault.
At Spa, Honda and McLaren cleverly exploited a change to the regulations by making a double engine change to the cars driven by Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button.
With the units also requiring additional turbochargers and energy recovery systems, Alonso and Button ended up accruing penalties of 105 grid places between them.
Until recently, they would have been converted into in-race penalties, only for the FIA to eliminate such sanctions as they were deemed by many to be too harsh.
It resulted in the duo simply starting at the back of the grid, but with their cars possessing a stash of new systems to carry them forward over the next few races, aimed at avoiding further penalties.
Given McLaren managed to make a double engine change and only started at the rear of the field, there is a possibility Red Bull and Renault may consider something similar.
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