Alonso and Vandoorne pick up hefty engine penalties again
Friday 27 October 2017 17:13, UK
McLaren drivers Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne are set to start the Mexican GP among the grid's back rows after another round of engine penalties.
Alonso, who retired with an energy-recovery failure when on course for points last Sunday in Austin, takes a new Honda engine, MGU-H and turbocharger on his car to bring up a 20-place demotion.
Team-mate Vandoorne will start behind him after a completely new power unit was installed on his car. The replacement of six parts add up to 35 places.
It means McLaren have now used a staggering 109 engine elements across their two cars this season, their final campaign with Honda.
By contrast, world champions Mercedes have used just 44, four inside the permitted season allocation.
A McLaren driver has already started among the back two rows 12 times this season.
The only other driver with a grid penalty as it stands is Toro Rosso's Pierre Gasly, who is due to take a five-place drop for the use of a fifth control electronics unit.
Alonso was expecting the latest round of penalties after an MGU-H failure struck his car when running strongly last Sunday and has admitted that Mexico is probably the best place for McLaren to make the changes.
"This circuit is not the perfect one for our package anyway so we expect not to be super competitive here," said Alonso of a track McLaren have yet to score points at since it returned to the calendar in 2015.
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"So maybe it's best to take the penalty and hopefully invest in Brazil and Abu Dhabi with this new engine."
McLaren have entered the final month of their failed Honda partnership before they part ways and team up with Renault for 2018. After three years of torrid results, Alonso hopes it is podiums rather than penalties they are talking about when they return to Mexico in 12 months' time.
"This year we have got a good example of a good car and the Renault power unit can do fighting at the front," said Alonso in reference to Red Bull.
"It's clear that all at McLaren want to be in that situation next year and we want to come back to Mexico fighting for the podium, not fighting for the penalties."
See if Lewis Hamilton can clinch his fourth world championship at the Mexican GP exclusively live on Sky Sports F1. Sunday's race begins at 7pm. Want to watch but not got Sky F1? Buy a NOW TV pass from £6.99!
