De Vries sidelined as AlphaTauri latest to suffer PU issue

AlphaTauri has become the latest team to be affected by power unit issues this season, leading to Nyck de Vries being sidelined for the final practice session ahead of this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

The team has confirmed that after detecting an unspecified issue on De Vries’ AT04, it has necessitated a change of the PU, and as a result, the Dutch rookie will be a spectator for FP3.

It means Honda has become the team to be affected by PU issues so early into the new campaign.

Lando Norris finished two laps down in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix due to a pneumatic pressure problem with the Mercedes power unit inside his McLaren, necessitating a complete change of the system for the race at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

Norris has since stated that first PU is now “finished”.

At Ferrari, Charles Leclerc sustained a control electronics problem in Bahrain that led to his exit from the race when on course for third position.

With Ferrari forced to take on a third CE unit for this race, it means Leclerc will start the race by the Red Sea with a 10-place grid penalty.

Both Leclerc and team-mate Carlos Sainz have also taken on new internal combustion engine for the Saudi Arabian event, with the Monégasque also requiring a second MGU-H.