Grid drops confirmed for Alonso, Ricciardo

Jun 19, 2015 11:00am UTC

Fernando Alonso (ESP) McLaren at Formula One World Championship, Rd8, Austrian Grand Prix, Practice, Spielberg, Austria, Friday 19 June 2015. © Sutton Motorsport Images

Daniel Ricciardo (AUS) Red Bull Racing RB11 at Formula One World Championship, Rd8, Austrian Grand Prix, Practice, Spielberg, Austria, Friday 19 June 2015. © Sutton Motorsport Images

Daniel Ricciardo (AUS) Red Bull Racing in the press conference at Formula One World Championship, Rd8, Austrian Grand Prix, Preparations, Spielberg, Austria, Thursday 18 June 2015. © Sutton Motorsport Images

McLaren’s Fernando Alonso and Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo will drop 20 and 10 places respectively on the grid for Sunday’s race in Austria thanks to penalties for using more than the permitted four power units in a season.

Ricciardo has taken on his fifth Renault engine, while Alonso is similarly on to his fifth Honda unit. Alonso’s larger penalty is the result of the Spaniard also using a fifth turbocharger and a fifth MGU-H, each of which incur an additional five-place drop.

Should either driver be unable to drop the required number of grid places - an inevitability for Alonso unless he qualifies on pole - then the penalties will be converted to in-race time penalties.

These can range from a 5-second time penalty to a 10-second stop-go penalty depending on the number of unused places.

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