TWO MORE DRIVERS HIT WITH SPA GRID PENALTIES

Isack Hadjar and Lance Stroll have joined Lando Norris in receiving grid penalties for Sunday’s Belgian grand prix after taking new power unit components at Spa-Francorchamps.

Isack Hadjar will join Lando Norris and Lance Stroll with grid penalties for the Belgian Grand Prix. Image: XPB Images

Hadjar has been handed the most severe punishment after Red Bull fitted his car with a fifth internal combustion engine, turbocharger and exhaust system of the season.

Each component exceeds the Frenchman’s permitted allocation, resulting in penalties totalling 30 grid places and requiring him to start from the rear of the field regardless of where he qualifies on Saturday.

Hadjar acknowledged before the changes were confirmed that extending his run of five consecutive top-six finishes would be difficult this weekend.

“This weekend, I think another top-six finish is going to be difficult given where I’m starting from, but we’ll give it a go,” Hadjar told Canal+.

“The main focus will be on race pace. It won’t be as much about qualifying performance, because we already know what to expect.

“We’ll probably start 22nd on the grid, but Spa is a track where you can overtake. A lot can happen, and we know we’ve got decent race pace. So I’m expecting to have some fun on Sunday.”

Hadjar’s hopes of recovering through the field will depend heavily on Red Bull’s race pace as he attempts to continue his recent run of form.

His teammate Max Verstappen has also received a new engine, turbocharger and exhaust this weekend but remains within his permitted allocation and will avoid a penalty.

Stroll will meanwhile drop 10 places from wherever he qualifies after Aston Martin installed a new MGU-K on his car.

The Canadian’s penalty may have less of an impact than those facing Hadjar and Norris, with Aston Martin expecting Spa to be one of its most difficult events of the season.

Norris’ 10-place penalty was confirmed on Thursday after McLaren introduced a fourth power electronics unit on the reigning world champion’s car.

The 26-year-old had already exhausted his permitted allocation following several failures during the opening nine rounds, making a penalty effectively unavoidable.

Spa is traditionally regarded as one of the better circuits at which to serve an engine penalty due to its long straights and greater number of overtaking opportunities compared with many other venues.

- Ben Waterworth

BORTOLETO HANDED FIVE-PLACE GRID PENALTY FOR HIS COLLISION WITH STROLL

Following his ambitious move at the start at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Kick Sauber driver Gabriel Bortoleto has been handed a five-place grid penalty for next weekend's Qatar round.

Kick Sauber Bortoleto looked overly optimistic at the start, braking much later than his rivals as he approached the first coner. Braking late, he locked up and seemed to collide with the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll who sent the Alpine of Pierre Gasly into a spin.

While the Brazilian limped round for two laps, the damage on his car was too great and he pulled into the pits to retire for the second straight race.

The stewards investigated the matter and elected to hand out a five-place grid penalty to Bortoleto who will serve it at next weekend's Qatar Grand Prix.

„The Stewards reviewed positioning/marshalling system data and video evidence. The driver of Car 5 braked extremely late and as a result collided with Car 18.

„Even though this was a Lap 1 Turn 1 incident, mitigating circumstances do not exist and hence the standard 10 second penalty would have applied however as Car 5 retired, the penalty is converted into a grid penalty for the next Race in which the driver participates, in accordance with our guidelines," read the FIA's statement.

Reflecting on his unfortunate mistake at the start of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Bortoleto admitted that he "misjudged the braking point by a few metres."

“First of all, I would like to apologise to Lance [Stroll]. It was my fault – I had a strong launch and went for a move on the inside of the Williams, but by the time I committed, I misjudged the braking point by a few meters and it was already too late to slow the car down properly.

"I went in a bit long, had no angle to make the corner, and ended up hitting him. It’s a shame, because the weekend seemed promising until qualifying, and then the mistake on lap one ruined both our races.

"I just need to put everything together now for the remaining two races of the season – clean laps, clean weekends – because not finishing these last two races meant losing track experience I should have been gaining. I’ll learn from this, reset, and make sure to come back to the performance levels I've shown before as we come to Doha next week.”

- Balazs Szabo