McLaren team boss Andeas Seidl says the team are weighing up the best moment to introduce Renault's latest engine upgrade, but are wary that doing so early could result in additional penalties later in the season.
Renault readied its "encouraging" upgrade for last weekend's French Grand Prix, but the only driver to take it was Daniel Ricciardo as doing so for Nico Hulkenberg would have resulted in a grid drop, whilst McLaren opted not to run it as Carlos Sainz would also have taken a penalty.
The Spaniard has used one additional engine over team-mate Lando Norris after a fire at the season opening event in Australia damaged his first.
"As soon as Carlos is going for the upgrade then we get the penalty, because it is the fourth one. So we need to figure out now when we do that," explained Seidl.
"That is unfortunately part of the game. But it is the same for the others around. We have seen others are taking penalties already now, so we have to see."
Seidl is cautious of taking the upgrade too early in search of quick gains whilst compromising their situation later in the year.
"The engine is a good step. It is encouraging to see that Renault is bringing updates.
"But again the plan for us was that it was better not to use it yet, simply to minimise the number of penalties that we would get until the end of the season."
McLaren are currently fourth in the standings, eight points ahead of chief rival Renault after extending their advantage in France where they scored 10 points to the French manufacturer's four.
