Alonso set for fresh engine penalty at Spa

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Fernando Alonso is set for a fresh engine penalty at the Belgian Grand Prix after Honda decided the Spaniard needs a new power unit.

Having already had one new power unit on Friday due to a water leak - which gave him a 35-place grid penalty - Alonso suffered further problems during qualifying and stopped at the top of Raidillon on his out lap in Q1. After an investigation, Honda decided a new power unit is required.

"This morning we saw some low oil pressure so we had to stop the session and we checked the data and we adjusted the oil pressure," Honda head of F1 boss Yusuke Hasegawa said. "So we thought we could do that and we had to take a risk to try and qualify but actually my judgement was a mistake, it was not good, so we have to change the engine for tomorrow.

"We are introducing a third engine."

The further power unit change means Alonso is likely to have a 70-place grid penalty if he changes all six components. However, he was already due to start from the back of the grid as a result of failing to set a time in Q1 and therefore needing the approval of the stewards to start the race.

Hasegawa also explained the two problems suffered on Alonso's car this weekend are unrelated.

"Friday was a water leak from the turbine so that is a potential risk which unfortunately happened at the track. So it is a completely different one."

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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.