McLaren will have one more Honda engine in 2015
In light of the numerous difficulties faced by Honda, the F1 Strategy Group has decided, in the name of sporting fairness, to allow Honda to supply an additional engine to the McLaren team.
The technical regulations require that each driver can only use four engines for the entire season. Similarly, the power unit is divided into six distinct elements, which are also restricted.
For each additional engine, the driver incurs a ten-place penalty, plus an additional five places for any engine component that exceeds the allowed total.
Consequently, the two McLaren drivers had to start from the very back of the grid in Austria due to a 25-place penalty, even though the grid only has twenty cars… Jenson Button was therefore forced to perform a stop-and-go in the early laps of the race.
The teams and engine manufacturers have agreed that any new engine supplier in F1 will have an additional engine per driver for their first season. This decision is retroactive, allowing Honda to benefit from it as early as this season. Given the reliability and performance issues of the Japanese engine, this additional allocation will be far from superfluous.
From our special correspondent in Silverstone
