BAKU, Azerbaijan -- Both McLarens have been issued with a 15-place grid penalty at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after new turbochargers and MGU-H components were fitted to the cars of Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne on Friday.
McLaren went into this weekend knowing Honda would bring an update that would in turn incur a penalty, but it has now been formalised by the FIA's stewards.
The newly-fitted components are the sixth turbo and MGU-H on both cars, meaning Alonso and Vandoorne are subject to a 15-place penalty each for using another set of components beyond their quota of four for the season. McLaren also fitted a fourth engine and fourth MGU-K to Alonso's car, but neither are subject to penalties as they are within the quota.
This year the FIA clamped down on a loophole in the rules that allowed teams to stockpile components and take a big penalty at a single event in order to avoid penalties at future events. The revised rule states that "if a driver introduces more than one of a power unit element that is subject to penalty, only the last element fitted may be used at subsequent events without further penalty. This is to prevent the stockpiling of spare power unit elements."