Valtteri ICE Change, Again?

Written by Sherlene

Published on 24 October 2021

(Valtteri Bottas during the Bahrain pre-season testing.)

Just the US GP week has started, Mercedes announced that they decide to change the ICE of Valtteri Bottas’ car, the Finnish driver got a 5 place-grid penalty for the sixth change of the season, twice as many as is permitted over the season,

After the fourth change in Monza, fifth in Sochi, the team principal Toto Wolff himself told SkySports F1 that they had some reliability issues since midyear that keep coming back, to avoid potential DNF’s they decide to change it.

As so, would this “issue” happen in Lewis’ car? If so when would he change it?How can it last long? Would it affect the championship fight between him and Max?

What is the ICE Engine?

The ICE, short for Internal Combustion Engine. In modern F1 Power Units, at the very heart of the PU, sits the ICE. It's a structural member of the car, connecting the chassis to the gearbox. The current F1 engines are six-cylinder engines, constructed in a V-configuration at 90 degrees, with a 1.6 litre displacement. The second element is the turbocharger (TC), which increases the density of the air that is consumed by the engine, thus giving the engine more power. Drivers are permitted three ICE in this 2021 season, If a driver exceeds this limit, they are given a grid penalty.

What about Lewis?

Since Valtteri has changed the sixth time this weekend, how about Lewis?

At the current statement, Sir Lewis Hamilton, the championship fighter has only changed fourth time this year at the Turkish GP. As if the “issue” that Wolff is talking about goes on, that doesn’t solve in thoroughly, it would definitely affect the championship fight and Hamilton might lose the fight. Also, Red Bull has been performing incredibly fast and on pace, from the recent race in Istanbul, breaking the White-Livery curse, having a 2-3 podium, to this week’s Free Practice session, they have been in the top.

If the issue keeps going, Lewis is definitely losing the fight.

How about the other teams that uses the engine…

McLaren, Williams and Aston Martin is using Mercedes’ engine, will it also affect their performance?

From their current performance, it would be most likely a no. As the McLaren having a 1-2 podium in Monza, some decent performance from Williams, it seems the teams that are using the Mercedes engine is not having a big issue.

Hmmm…

There is a lot of unknown in this industry, as we don’t know how is it going inside the Mercedes Team, we don’t know what is actually going wrong of the car. What we can do is sit back and relax, watching the championship fight continue on. We will see how the car goes this Sunday.

ICE information from: https://www.mercedesamgf1.com/en/news/2019/08/the-internal-combustion-engine-the-power-units-mechanical-heart/