After the Asian trip of Singapore e Suzuka Formula 1 moves to America for another round which includes Austin, Mexico and Brazil before concluding in the grand final in Abu Dhabi. A Grand Prix that this year will perhaps have less suspense given that the 2022 world title has already been won assigned a Max Verstappen right on the occasion of the last round of the world championship in Suzuka. Leclerc he hopes to be able to at least have fun in these last four races, returning to the victory that has been missing since the Austrian GP. To do this he will no longer have updates available, and furthermore he will have to deal with the problem reliability which remains lurking. The Monegasque has currently exceeded the limit twice, most recently at Spa. In the past, there was already talk of Austin as the last "scheduled" stop for the Power Unit change. Let's see who, besides him, could therefore incur a penalty at the next GP.
Ferrari and Alpine ready to change
Between Spa and Monza there are many riders who have suffered penalties for the change with fresher units, complete with almost inverted grids due to the size of the penalized. The last to have taken advantage of a change was Russell, forced to do it in one of the toughest weekends considering that it was a race on the street circuit of Singapore. The Englishman had taken advantage of the bad position in qualifying to assemble a fresher unit on Sunday.
Just in Singapore, however, the Alpine had to deal with a double retirement due to problems with the engines. At Austin, therefore, the team could take cover by mounting a new unit at least on Fernando Alonso's car, the first ever to have taken penalties at the start of the championship and close to using sixth. An excellent top speed is needed on the American circuit and there is no shortage of overtaking points. The same goes for Ferrari, which could decide to change the Power Unit on Leclerc, as already premature this summer.
Other possible changes
Mainly it is the Ferrari-powered ones that have less room for maneuver both on the Power Unit front – Bottas is the most affected of the entire Ferrari family while Tsunoda in the Honda/Red Bull house – and on that of the transmissions. In Singapore we also saw Alonso, Ocon, Norris and Gasly fit a new gearbox. It is possible that even the Ferrari-powered ones will therefore change some components in Austin.
Source: FormulaPassion
