Lando Norris Backs Spa Recovery After Grid Penalty

Lando Norris is confident McLaren can still rescue his Belgian Grand Prix weekend despite a 10-place grid penalty at Spa-Francorchamps.

The penalty follows McLaren’s decision to install a fourth control electronics unit in Norris’s car to take advantage of the latest reliability fixes introduced by Mercedes HPP. Each driver is permitted to use three units without penalty, while the first use of a fourth results in a 10-place grid drop.

Norris’s MCL40 and Oscar Piastri’s car will also receive new internal combustion engines at Spa, but those components remain within the permitted allocation and will not trigger an additional penalty.

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Spa has traditionally been one of the preferred circuits for taking power unit penalties because its approximately seven-kilometre layout provides more overtaking opportunities than tighter venues such as the Hungaroring or Zandvoort.

“We will have to wait and see how the overtaking is. Most people would deploy basically the whole battery to Turn 5, so there is not much use for the battery after that,” Norris said.

Norris believes McLaren is likely to hold a straight-line speed advantage over the cars further down the order. However, he still expects overtaking to be difficult because the heavy use of electrical energy on the approach to Les Combes could limit attacking opportunities later in the lap.

“The slipstream is pretty big and there are still a few straights where there is no straight mode, so the slipstream remains significant. We know it is better than Zandvoort and better than Hungary to take penalties,” he added.

Norris does not yet have a clear picture of how much ground can be recovered, but remains confident McLaren can deliver a competitive weekend. His prospects will depend on the MCL40’s straight-line performance and its ability to move through the midfield during the Belgian Grand Prix.