Belgian Grand Prix: Lando Norris to have 10-place grid penalty because of new battery
McLaren have fallen to the back of the top four teams in recent races as rivals have introduced upgrades, but the hope is that the aerodynamic package to be brought in across the Hungarian and Dutch Grands Prix on either side of Formula 1’s summer break will return them to competitiveness.
They decided that it was better to take the grid penalty in Belgium, where they expect to be no more competitive than at the last race in Britain but where passing is relatively straightforward, than compromise Hungary, where the car should perform better and overtaking is notoriously difficult.
Norris said: “I have to wait and see really how the overtaking is. We probably have a small straight-line speed advantage, comparing to people a little bit further back. So comparing to them we should have a good chance.
“To just overtake in general could be pretty difficult here. But the slipstream is pretty big, and there’s still a few straights, but there’s no straight-line mode (through some of the flat-out sections), and therefore the slipstream is pretty large, and you can gain a good amount from that.
“But we know it’s better than Zandvoort, and better than Hungary taking penalties. I hope it’s not the end of my weekend before it started, but I’m still confident we can have a good race.”
Norris’ grid penalty comes after a troubled start to the season for the team that won a drivers’ and constructors’ championship double last year, in both performance and reliability terms.
Technically, the part replaced in Belgium is known as the ‘power electronics’, which is a control computer within the battery module.
Norris failed to start the Chinese Grand Prix in March after a terminal issue with his power electronics unit, and a second example of that part had to be withdrawn after suffering problems in practice at the following race in Japan.
The Japan unit was repaired but suffered a terminal problem in practice in Monaco.
A McLaren statement said: “While the power electronics unit we installed in Japan, and have used in every session since Miami, has worked reliably, Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains (HPP) has since introduced a series of reliability fixes to their new power electronics systems.
“However, in order to take advantage of these improvements, we must incur a 10-place grid penalty on Lando’s car in order to take a new unit.”
The statement added: “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.”
McLaren will have a new rear wing design in Spa, which the team hopes will better suit the specific characteristics of the flowing high-speed track around the Ardennes forests.
This wing will have a conventional opening style in straight-line mode, rather than the somersaulting designs introduced this season by Ferrari and Red Bull.
Red Bull have had to revert to a conventional wing this weekend after Max Verstappen suffered high-speed crashes at the previous two races because of issues with the design.
Mercedes have had a series of engine-related reliability issues this year, not all to do with the battery.
Another has emerged with the engine used by championship leader Kimi Antonelli at the British Grand Prix.
That has had to go back to the HPP’s base in Brixworth for investigation and the Italian has a new engine as a result this weekend in Belgium. This is from within his allocation and therefore comes with no penalty.
Depending on the outcome of the investigations, Mercedes hope to be able to put Antonelli’s Silverstone unit back into the pool for use later in the year.