The on-track action hasn’t even got underway yet at Silverstone and Fernando Alonso’s already picked up a grid drop for Sunday’s race.
At the last race in Austria, McLaren and Honda debuted the Spec 3 engine and while Stoffel Vandoorne suffered very few issues, the same couldn’t be said for Alonso.
He had to go back to the old spec for the rest of the weekend after an MGU-H problem was discovered, but the two-time F1 champion will be back with the newer spec in Great Britain.
The old MGU-H has been kept, which means he won’t serve a penalty for that part, but McLaren has changed the energy store.
As this is the fifth unit of this component, he’ll get a five-place grid penalty for Silverstone – and Honda says it will make a call on any other changes after Friday practice.
So, knowing McLaren and Honda’s track record at the moment, Vandoorne and Alonso could be set for more penalties as the weekend progresses.
Hardly the best start to a race weekend for Alonso…
The MGU-H issue found in Austria has been something Honda are looking into and working on fixing, but as the race is back-to-back with Silverstone, they haven’t had time to change anything.
