31/08/2019
NEWS STORY
No less than six drivers face demotion following today's qualifying session as a result of exceeding their engine component allowance.
As expected, Alexander Albon will head to the back of the grid on his race debut for Red Bull, the Thai driver - who takes on Pierre Gasly's previous allowance - having taken on a 4th internal combustion engine (ICE), 4th turbocharger (TC), 4th motor generator unit – heat (MGU-H), 3rd motor generator unit - kinetic (MGU-K), 3rd energy store (ES) and 3rd control electronics (CE).
Likewise Daniil Kvyat, who takes on a 5th ICE, 5th TC, 5th MGU-H and 4th MGU-K, and Lance Stroll, who takes on a 4th ICE, 4th TC and 4th MGU-H.
Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz will drop 5 places as he takes on a 5th ICE, likewise Nico Hulkenberg who is now on his 6th ICE and Daniel Ricciardo who is on his 5th ICE.
All the penalties are the result of engine upgrades from Honda, Renault and Mercedes, Stroll being the only Mercedes-powered driver to exceed his limit as he takes on the German manufacturer's latest update.
While Albon and Kvyat are penalised this weekend, Max Verstappen and Gasly will face similar penalties when they opt to take on the spec-4 Honda unit.
Sergio Perez, who suffered an engine failure in FP2 yesterday, while running the Mercedes upgrade, will revert to his old engine rather than risk a penalty.
Check out our Saturday gallery from Spa, here.