Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

McLaren further grid penalties reach 105

Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button are set to receive further grid penalties for the Belgian Grand Prix after taking new engine components.

With both drivers already set to start from the back of the grid having been hit with a combined penalty of 55 grid places, McLaren has taken extra new power unit components to expand the pool available to both drivers at future races.

Both drivers have taken an eighth internal combustion engine (ICE) on Saturday morning, while there are also new turbochargers (TC), MGU-H and MGU-K components on both cars.

For Alonso, the eighth ICE is the first time he has taken an eighth component and therefore carries a ten-place grid penalty, with the other three new parts resulting in additional five places each. His total penalty of 25 places will be added to the 30 places he was given on Friday, leaving Alonso with a 55-place grid drop.

Button's changes also add up to a drop of 25 places in total having taken a ninth TC and MGU-H, leaving him with an overall penalty of 50 places this weekend.

Tweaks to the regulations made earlier this season mean neither driver will face an in-race penalty for the changes, while unused penalties are also not carried over to future races.

Click here for a gallery of the biggest crashes at Spa-Francorchamps

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.