The Mercedes AMG PETRONAS F1 team have confirmed that driver Lewis Hamilton will receive a further fifteen place grid penalty at this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, bringing his current grid drop tally up to thirty, after being given a fresh power unit to use during today’s FP2 session.
The current world champion has now used five ICE and MGU-K components, but is on to his seventh MGU-H and turbocharger, the latter of which have brought about the further penalty forfeit for exceeding the five component limit.
The German team decided it would make sense to allow the Brit to use a further fresh engine this weekend and take the hit all in one go, so that he would then have two engines available to use at the remaining rounds of the season, which will hopefully mean he will not have to incur any further penalties this year.
The Brackley based squad confirmed their decision on Twitter during the second practice session of the weekend, at the circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
Sunday’s race will be a tricky one for the triple world champion, but Hamilton has remained upbeat about the situation, placing no blame on the team and re-iterating that they win and lose together at Mercedes.
The Brit has stated that winning the Belgian Grand Prix is still his main aim, but is aware it will now be a lot more difficult for him to achieve. Salvaging as much as he can from the back of the grid therefore, will be the order of the day for the Brit.
