Lando Norris will start the Belgian Grand Prix with a 10-place grid penalty after McLaren fitted a new battery unit exceeding his season allocation. The team chose to take the hit at Spa-Francorchamps, where overtaking is comparatively straightforward, rather than risk it at the following race in Hungary, where passing is notoriously difficult, ahead of a significant car upgrade planned either side of F1's summer break.

The new part is Norris's fourth "power electronics" unit of the season, one more than permitted, and brings the latest reliability fixes Mercedes has introduced after a troubled year for the component. Norris failed to start in China after a terminal power electronics failure, and a replacement unit suffered issues in Japan before breaking down again in Monaco; McLaren says it now intends to run this fourth unit for the rest of the season. Separately, championship leader Kimi Antonelli also has a new Mercedes engine this weekend after a reliability issue at Silverstone, though his change falls within his allocation and carries no penalty.