10-place grid drop for Ericsson for power unit penalty

Marcus Ericsson will take a 10-place grid penalty for the Belgian Grand Prix as a result of new power unit components.

The Sauber driver has taken a new internal combustion engine (ICE), turbocharger and energy store for this weekend's race at Spa-Francorchamps. While the ICE and energy store are within the regulations, Ericsson will be using his sixth turbocharger of the season, which carries an automatic 10-place grid penalty.

15-place grid penalty confirmed for Hamilton

Ericsson's penalty will be applied following qualifying, when championship leader Lewis Hamilton will also take a 30-place grid penalty as a result of new power unit components.

Sauber has introduced an upgrade package at Spa, with the team having been able to manufacture a number of new parts following its recent takeover by Longbow Finance. The team analysed the upgrade during FP1, when Ericsson was 13th fastest and team-mate Felipe Nasr 15th.

Nasr says the update is focused on improving the balance and stability of the Sauber, with the team targeting points during the remaining nine races this season.

"In Spa it’s hard to say because we’re running a medium downforce configuration to exploit the whole package," Nasr said. "I won’t say a number now, I’ll wait for the weekend to see how the handling and balance of the car comes, because I think this is more important than just thinking about the lap time itself.

"If the balance is better for sure, if you bring us better downforce in areas we are looking to find downforce this will be a benefit, but in terms of numbers I wouldn’t say more or less."

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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.