28/06/2019
NEWS STORY
Carlos Sainz is set to join Toro Rosso's Alexander Albon at the back of the grid for Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix.
The Thai driver, who didn't take the spec-3 Honda power unit in France last week in order to avoid the same fate as his Toro Rosso teammate, this weekend takes on a new MGU-K, MGU-H and turbo, which means a 15-place demotion.
Sainz, who will benefit from the latest upgrade from Renault, will also take on a whole complement of components, McLaren having postponed the change from last week's French Grand Prix to this week.
"That is unfortunately part of the game," said team boss Andreas Seidl in France last weekend. "But it is the same for the others, we have seen others are taking penalties already, so now we have to see.
"In the end, how the regulations are, you need to make a plan of how you're going to use your engines throughout the season in terms of the modes, mileage and so on to avoid penalties," he added.
"We got the engine delivered from Renault, which is good and encouraging to see that they keep bringing steps. But again the plan for us was that it was better not to use it yet, simply to minimise the number of penalties that we would get until the end of the season."
After his team discovered an oil leak earlier this morning, meaning he reverted to the older spec power unit, Valtteri Bottas took on a new MGU-K without penalty.
Check out our Friday gallery from Spielberg, here.