Bottas starts from the back of the grid after taking his fourth power unit

Valtteri Bottas will start Sunday’s race for the Italian Grand Prix from last place after Mercedes decided to give him a fourth power unit to avoid penalties in any of the remaining races while he will retain the first starting position for the sprint qualifying he earned with his best time in qualifying.

Bottas surprised Hamilton in the Friday qualifying and beat him for 0.096 seconds, although the Finn gave a tow to his teammate in both Q3 laps, but Mercedes informed the FIA during the qualifying that he would take the fourth power unit elements in Bottas’ car that will trigger the start from the back of the grid.

Mercedes has decided to install a fourth V6 engine, a fourth turbocharger, a fourth MGU-H, a fourth MHU-K and a fourth exhaust system in the Bottas car which will, according to the 2021 FIA F1 Sporting Regulations, trigger the start from the back of the starting grid.

The first time an additional element is used results with the ten place grid penalty while the next times an additional element of the same type is used triggers five grid place penalty.

If a driver incurs a penalty exceeding fifteen (15) grid places he will be required to start the race from the back of the starting grid, which stands for Bottas this weekend.

In addition to Bottas, the new PU elements were also taken by Mazepin (second energy store), Verstappen, Norris, Alonso, Gasly, Kubica and Giovinazzi (exhaust systems) – Kubica inherits the allocation of power unit elements from Raikkonen, which he replaces for the second weekend in a row.

In 2021 F1 season, drivers can use 3 ICE, 3 TC, 3 MGU-H, 3 MGU-K, 2 ES, 2 CE and 8 EX (ICE – internal combustion engine, TC – turbo charger, MGU-H – motor generator unit heat, MGU-K – motor generator unit kinetic, ES – energy store, CE – control electronics, EX – exhaust system.)

Status: Saturday at Italian GP (race 14/22)