11 F1 drivers win the third and final engine of the season at the Belgian GP

With Formula 1 entering a triple header with the Spa-Francorchamps and Monza powertracks, most of the teams took the opportunity to introduce new engines this time.

Before this weekend, five drivers had already moved up to their third and last engine of the season – Max Verstappen, Sebastian Vettel, Esteban Ocon, Carlos Sainz and George Russell.

Both Mercedes drivers, Sergio Perez from Red Bull, both McLarens, Fernando Alonso from Alpine, Charles Leclerc from Ferrari, AlphaTauris and Williams’ Nicholas Latifi, also made the switch for the spa weekend.

For the time being, only the Ferrari customer teams Haas and Alfa Romeo are left with their second engines.

While many teams are satisfied with the mileage of their engines and can survive the rest of the campaign with the three engines in their pool, some drivers face the prospect of having to use a fourth engine at some point. That would trigger an automatic grid penalty.

Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL35M, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Of the front runners, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez both lost their second engine due to accidental damage, so they are preparing for a start penalty at some point.

Ahead of the Belgian GP weekend, Verstappen said he wasn’t sure when Red Bull would decide to bring the fourth engine into play.

“I still have no idea because I just got a new engine,” said the Dutchman. “So we’re looking for where we can bring a new engine if necessary. I can’t comment on that now. We do not know yet.”

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The certainly one starting place penalty also applies to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, as both he and his teammate Carlos Sainz will take their fourth engine if their team decides to introduce the planned improved unit later in the campaign.

No date has been set for it, but team principal Mattia Binotto recently said he was optimistic about the plan that the unit will eventually come into play after Monza.

“This is an important step towards the end of the season for us,” he said.