Lando Norris got a tough penalty just days before the Belgian GP, and McLaren has responded with a statement.
Lando Norris has received a penalty just days before the Belgian Grand Prix, and McLaren has shared some details to explain what’s going on.
Lando, who won last year’s championship, is currently fifth in the Drivers’ Championship after nine races. He’s excited to race at Spa-Francorchamps, which feels special since his mom is from Belgium.
But before the race, McLaren confirmed that Lando will be using a new power electronics unit. This will be the fourth time he’s used one this season, and the rules say that using four triggers an automatic 10-place grid penalty.
This means Lando can’t start higher than 11th on the grid. McLaren chose to take this penalty in Belgium because they think it’s easier to overtake there than at upcoming races.
McLaren explained: “Lando’s first power electronics unit had a serious problem in China, which meant he couldn’t start that race. The second unit, used in Japan, needed fixing after issues in practice, so we moved to a third unit. Sadly, the second one later had another problem in Monaco and had to be removed from our allowed parts.”
“The third unit we installed in Japan has worked well since Miami, but Mercedes-AMG has introduced updates to improve reliability. To use the latest unit with these fixes, Lando has to take a 10-place grid penalty.”
“We picked Belgium to take this penalty because it’s a track where passing is easier, unlike Hungary and Zandvoort coming up. We plan to use this fourth unit for the rest of the season to keep things reliable while limiting penalties.”
Right now, Lando is 82 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli from Mercedes after a challenging 2026 season.