We already knew that both McLaren-Honda drivers had 15-place grid penalties for this weekend, but now both drivers have been hit with even bigger grid drops as a result of a having to take on extra components to the Honda power units.
Fernando Alonso now has a 40 place grid drop as a result of taking on an extra MGU-K, MGU-H, engine, and turbocharger. Teammate Stoffel Vandoorne meanwhile ‘only’ has a 30 place penalty because he only needed an MGU-H and a turbocharger.
The reason for the additional penalties is because Honda brought a selection of upgraded parts to test in Friday practice, but decided that the older spec parts are better.
The need to draw extra components from the allocation has resulted in the extra penalties. Oh Honda…
