McLaren has confirmed that Lando Norris will take a 10-place grid drop for this weekend’s Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix, after the fitting of a brand-new electronics unit.
The reigning World Champion has had torrid luck with said part of his MCL40 so far this year, having first suffered from issues in China, which forced his DNS from that race.
The second at the following race in Japan had further issues, with alternations between that and third, which gave up the ghost during free practice for the Monaco Grand Prix last month.
McLaren has stated that, whilst the third unit is still working perfectly, the move to fit the fourth and penalty-incurring unit is due to reliability fixes from its power unit manufacturer, Mercedes, which, it said in a statement, is “in order to take advantage” of the benefits.
“We have chosen to do this in Belgium, a circuit where overtaking is relatively more prevalent, as opposed to the following two events in Hungary and Zandvoort,” it continued.
“We now plan to use this fourth power electronics unit for the remainder of the season, in order to maximise reliability while minimising sporting penalties on Lando.”
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