Whatever the finishing order after Q3 tomorrow, the grid order on Sunday afternoon will look somewhat different.

Before a wheel had turned in this morning's opening practice session, Fernando Alonso and the Red Bull duo, as expected, were handed grid penalties, with Carlos Sainz similarly punished.

Just a week after his teammate took a 65-place hit in Belgium, Alonso has thus far forfeited 35 places as his team replaced his Internal Combustion Engine (ICE), MGU-H, MGU-K, Control Electrics, Energy Store and Turbocharger.

To further complicate matters, while the new engine, understood to be the latest spec unit (3.7) from Honda, was used in the opening session, for the second session he will revert to the engine used (and retired) in Belgium last week.

Daniel Ricciardo takes a 20-place hit for a new MGU-H, ICE and Turbocharger, while teammate Max Verstappen loses 15 places for his new ICE and MGU-H.

It was later confirmed that Carlos Sainz forfeits 10 places after his team changed his MGU-H.

Other than the fact that this means four drivers have between them lost 80 grid places, it comes at the very beginning of the weekend meaning that further penalties could be in store. Indeed, with a number of the forthcoming races offering little opportunity for overtaking, drivers may opt to take penalties at Monza where it is easier to make up the lost grid positions.

FOM's new sporting boss Ross Brawn has revealed that there are plans to drop the controversial penalty system, but with no viable alternative this may not happen before 2021.

Check out our Friday gallery from Monza, here.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by FormerF1Fan, 02/09/2017 9:52

"RDFox, this is exactly the opposite of what we need in F1. Fewer rules, not more. To all extents and purposes, the penalty system has been specifically designed to never reach a level playing field, rich stays rich and poor stays poor. Great champions are made, not by driving, but rather by being in the right car at the right time, using your engine power superiority to qualify in front, and then winning the race by simply by keeping the fastest car pointing in the right direction. Racing as we know it rarely exists. Speed differentials are so large that no amount of talent or balls can overcome it. What we need is positive encouragement for lesser teams (forget cost caps, they are the poorer ones anyway) to try new things and at least get their engines up to power so we can have better racing through clever underdogs using brains against money, which is what F1 is all about. Ask Ross Braun. Instead, we get DRS and other absolutely undiluted racing rubbish. The current regulations are so far up where the sun doesn't shine that there is no light to be seen at the end of the tunnel. How many FIA rule changes in recent years have in fact had precisely the opposite effect to that intended? "

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2. Posted by stackvideo, 01/09/2017 23:15

"Don't anyone laugh at Formula E no more."

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3. Posted by RDFox, 01/09/2017 16:43

"Very simple and effective alternative to the grid penalty system for engine/transmission changes: For any "unapproved" (i.e., "before the minimum life requirement") changes of powertrain components, the team that makes them forfeits all Constructor's points, prize money, and commercial rights revenues they would have received for that race. Points are not awarded, and money is assigned to a charity selected by FIA/FOM.

In short, while having no effect on the DRIVER'S Championship, exclude the team from the CONSTRUCTOR'S Championship for that race. Simple, easy to understand, easy to enforce, and it penalizes the team without penalizing the driver."

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Penalties abound at Monza

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