What was feared has arrived even earlier than expected. Lando Norris will be forced to serve a 10-place grid penalty at the Belgian Grand Prix due to recurring reliability issues with the electronic part of the Mercedes power unit.
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We are not even halfway through the season, but McLaren is forced to use the fourth power electronics unit, the component that manages the delivery of electrical energy stored in the battery. They will do so on Norris’s car, with the world champion facing an uphill battle at Spa-Francorchamps.
Inevitable penalty
According to the official statement from McLaren, the first power electronics unit of car number 1 suffered an irreversible failure in China, preventing Norris from starting the race. The second unit, installed in Japan, was dismantled for repairs after problems were found during free practice, making it necessary to move to a third and final unit according to the limit allowed by the regulations. Although the second unit was repaired after the Japanese Grand Prix, it went definitively KO during FP2 in Monaco.
Forced choice to install the updated component
Despite the power electronics unit installed in Japan and used in all sessions from Miami onwards working reliably, McLaren decided to set it aside to install the new version provided by Mercedes with modifications aimed at improving its reliability.
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To take advantage of these improvements, McLaren was forced to accept the 10-place penalty for Norris. “We chose to do it in Belgium because it is a circuit where overtaking is relatively more frequent compared to the next two events in Hungary and Zandvoort,” reads the McLaren statement.
“We now plan to use this fourth power electronics unit for the rest of the season, in order to maximize reliability and minimize sporting penalties for Lando.”
