Verstappen, Hulkenberg facing Austin grid penalties

Max Verstappen, Red Bull, United States Grand Prix

Max Verstappen is one of a number of drivers expected to receive a grid penalty for Sunday's United States Grand Prix.

He is reportedly set for a minimum grid drop of 15 places after the team committed to taking a new Renault V6 for this weekend's race. All going well, it should be his final engine change of the season.

Red Bull says it is changing the engine this weekend rather than waiting until Mexico because there are better overtaking opportunities at the Circuit of the Americas.

"At least you can overtake so it's not such a problem," the team's motorsports consultant Dr Helmut Marko told Autosport magazine. ""I don't know exactly what will be changed and what won't be. Wait until Saturday."

Verstappen's grid penalty is not included in the initial official list released by the FIA on Friday. However, other drivers' fates have already been sealed.

Brendon Hartley already knows that he will receive a 25-place grid drop for his Formula 1 début.

He has taken over Pierre Gasly's car for the weekend. It will receive its sixth new engine, sixth MGU-H, fifth Energy Store and fifth Control Electronics unit this weekend.

Hamilton sets the pace early in damp FP1 in Austin

Renault's Nico Hulkenberg will have to overcome a 20-place demotion this weekend. He's taken on a fifth engine, turbo and MGU-H. Drivers are only allowed four of each in a season.

McLaren have long since crossed that threshold. Stoffel Vandoorne receives his eighth engine this weekend. As a result, he gets hit with another ten place grid penalty on Sunday.

His team mate Fernando Alonso, who has just confirmed a contract extension for 2018, may yet be joining him at the back.

The two-time world champion completed only four shakedown laps in Friday morning's first free practice session. He was unable to complete a timed lap due to a hydraulics issue on the ill-starred MCL32.

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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.