Perez, Verstappen, Alonso... 2023 F1 season set to be plagued by penalties

Alpine is the only team yet to suffer a breakdown as penalties mount up for the rest of the pack amid engine failures

After just three races of the 2023 F1 World Championship, many drivers have already come to terms with the fact that they will not finish the season clear of penalties for changing engine parts.

In 2022, only 5 of the 20 drivers were able to finish the season unscathed as most fell fowl to issues with their engine alongside gearbox problems.

This year promises to offer more of the same as sprint races demand every ounce of power from the car's engines.

The most notable of the cases is Charles Leclerc who enters 2023 after 16 problems in one of the six elements of the engine in 2022.

Leclerc has started this season in a nightmare as he used his third power unit in the second race of the year resulting in him losing 10 places on the grid.

Engine issues have plagued the entire grid apart from Alpine, whose cars run a Renault engine, which is the only team yet to suffer a breakdown.

Nico Hulkenberg is set to lose 10 places on the grid in Baku after he received his third MGU-K after a close finish in Australia

Checo Perez of Red Bull is another driver who has received penalties after he utilized his eighth part of his season so far.

The Mexican, currently sitting in second place in the driver standings behind his teammate Max Verstappen, had to fit his third battery and third switchboard which saw him receive two penalties of ten positions that resulted in a start from the pit lane in Melbourne.

Mercedes' engines were by far the most consistent last year as the five drivers who did not receive engine penalties were using Mercedes engines: Ricciardo (McLaren), Vettel and Stroll (Aston Martin) and Latifi and Albon (Williams).

Yet, this season, Norris has already had to receive a second complete change in his McLaren (ICE, turbos, MG's... ), while George Russell has been told at Mercedes that his propeller, which melted while he was leading in Australia, is unrecoverable.

For the time being, their customers, including Fernando Alonso and his Aston Martin, breathe easy knowing that Russell's melting incident was an external issue.

Team's are able to make four alterations to external elements and four changes to internal elements when it comes to gearboxes.

Both drivers from Mercedes and Red Bull made a second change to both external and internal gearbox components in Australia.

The penalty for using more is five positions.