Alonso set to receive 35-place grid penalty

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Fernando Alonso is set to receive a 35-place grid penalty as a result of a complete power unit change at the Belgian Grand Prix.

McLaren found a water leak from the energy recovery system (ERS) during FP1, ruling Alonso out of the session after just three laps. The problem was big enough to require a complete power unit change to allow Alonso to be able to take part in FP2 on Friday afternoon.

Power unit problems rule Alonso out of FP1

With Honda bringing a major power unit upgrade to Spa-Francorchamps, Alonso was already on his fifth of every power unit component - with all six having been new for this weekend. McLaren is changing the whole engine, meaning Alonso will be using the sixth of each component.

The current regulations mean the first time the sixth of any component is used, Alonso will receive a ten-place grid penalty. Each subsequent time the sixth of any component is used, a five-place grid penalty is imposed. As a result, Alonso is set to take a 35-place grid penalty for this weekend's race.

Alonso's penalty follows a 30-place grid penalty for Lewis Hamilton, with the championship leader taking a sixth turbocharger and MGU-H, while Marcus Ericsson also has a 10-place grid penalty for using a sixth turbocharger.

Honda's upgrade cost seven development tokens, with the focus on the ICE, with Honda focusing on improving combustion efficiency by updating the combustion chamber. There are also improvements to the turbo and the compressor, which is a continuation of the work Honda did with a turbo upgrade in Canada.

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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.