Honda and McLaren have chosen to take a grid penalty for the British Grand Prix in order for Fernando Alonso to run the latest Honda power unit.
Both Alonso and team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne were given the upgrade at the Austrian GP last weekend, and whilst Vandoorne experienced good reliability, Honda spotted an issue with Alonso's MGU-H and he was forced to revert back to an older engine for the remainder of the race weekend.
The Spaniard will now revert back to his newer Spec 3 engine – which was used during practice in Austria before the issue was discovered – but will keep the old MGU-H, meaning he avoids a grid penalty for that part of the change.
However, a new energy store will be fitted and this is Alonso's fifth of the season, therefore a five-place grid penalty must be served as a result.
Alonso and Vandoorne could face further drops, with Honda set to make a call on whether it needs to change other components after Friday practice.
Meanwhile the Japanese manufacturer is working on a fix for the MGU-H issue, but with Austria and Britain being back-to-back races, Honda haven't yet had enough time to test the change.
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