McLaren confirm Lando Norris has ten place grid penalty for Belgian Grand Prix

Formula 1 drivers are permitted three power electronics units during the season, meaning the change automatically triggers a grid drop for the reigning World Champion at Spa-Francorchamps.

The penalty adds to a difficult season for McLaren, who sit third in the Constructors’ Championship behind Mercedes and Ferrari after struggling to match the pace of the leading teams.

Norris started last year’s Belgian Grand Prix from pole position, but McLaren have deliberately chosen Spa as the venue to introduce the new component because overtaking is more achievable than at the next two races in Hungary and the Netherlands.

McLaren revealed that Norris’ first power electronics unit suffered a terminal failure in China in March, preventing him from starting the race.

A second unit was then fitted at the Japanese Grand Prix but required remedial work after problems emerged during practice. Although repaired, it later suffered another terminal issue during Monaco practice in June.

The unit used since Miami has remained reliable, but McLaren said Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains had subsequently introduced several reliability improvements.

Explaining the decision, McLaren said: “However, in order to take advantage of these improvements, we must incur a 10-place grid penalty on Lando’s car in order to take a new unit.”

The team added: “We have chosen to do this in Belgium, a circuit where overtaking is relatively more prevalent, as opposed to the following two events in Hungary and Zandvoort.”

McLaren plan to use the fourth power electronics unit for the remainder of the 2026 Formula 1 season. Norris must now attempt to limit the damage at Spa, where qualifying position remains important despite the circuit offering more overtaking opportunities than many venues on the calendar.