Alonso, Red Bull and Toro Rosso all sent to the back

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McLaren’s Fernando Alonso will join Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo lining up at the back of the grid for Sunday’s Russian Grand Prix.

Alonso’s MCL33 has been fitted with a new internal combustion engine, turbocharger, MGU-H and MGU-K, as well as a new control electronics unit and a new energy store for this weekend’s race.

That incurs a slew of grid penalties meaning that Alonso will be starting the race from near the back.

However, pending further penalties it’s unlikely that he will be starting from dead last, as a number of other drivers face similar setbacks.

Both Red Bull Racing drivers are reverting to Renault’s B-Spec engine this weekend, meaning a new ICE, turbo, MGU-H and MGU-K on both cars. In addition, Verstappen is to be fitted with a new CE and ES.

Things are no better at the sister Toro Rosso team, with Pierre Gasly similarly needing new ICE, turbo, MGU-H and MGU-K components from Honda this weekend. His team mate Brendon Hartley will take the complete set of power unit elements.

  • Red Bull reverts back to B-Spec engine – penalties await drivers

The team is attempting to get all of its penalties out of the way before heading to Honda’s home race at Suzuka in seven days’ time.

The order in which the penalties are applied – and therefore determine which of the drivers starts higher up the grid than the others – depends on the order in which the cars came out on track at the start of Free Practice 1.

McLaren ensured that Alonso’s car – driven for the session by current test and development driver Lando Norris – was at the head of the queue, which likely means it will be 16th on the grid on Sunday.

As a result, regardless of the outcome of qualifying tomorrow, the last two rows will almost certainly be packed out with Red Bull and Toro Rosso cars, a somewhat ignominious situation for both squads.

Here’s the current status of power unit usage, including Friday’s latest upgrades

Power Element Usage

Driver ICE TC MGU-H MGU-K ES CE

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton
3
3
3
2
2
2

Valtteri Bottas
4
4
4
3
3
3

Ferrari

Sebastian Vettel
3
3
3
2
2
2

Kimi Räikkönen
3
3
3
2
2
2

Red Bull/TAG Heuer

Daniel Ricciardo
5
5
5
5
4
4

Max Verstappen
4
4
4
4
3
3

Force India/Mercedes

Sergio Pérez
3
3
3
2
2
2

Esteban Ocon
3
3
3
2
2
2

Williams/Mercedes

Lance Stroll
3
3
3
2
2
2

Sergey Sirotkin
3
3
3
2
2
2

Renault

Nico Hülkenberg
5
6
5
4
4
4

Carlos Sainz
4
4
4
3
3
3

Toro Rosso/Honda

Brendon Hartley
7
6
6
6
3
4

Pierre Gasly
6
6
6
5
3
3

Haas/Ferrari

Romain Grosjean
3
3
3
2
2
2

Kevin Magnussen
3
3
3
2
2
2

McLaren/Renault

Fernando Alonso
4
4
4
4
3
3

Stoffel Vandoorne
4
4
4
3
3
3

Sauber/Ferrari

Marcus Ericsson
4
3
3
2
2
2

Charles Leclerc
3
3
3
2
2
2

Notes:

    ICE: Internal Combustion Engine
    TC: Turbo Charger
    MGU-H: Motor Generator Unit – Heat
    MGU-K: Motor Generator Unit – Kinetic
    ES: Energy Store
    CE: Control Electronics

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