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Drive-through penalty to add to Button’s woes

07 Jun 2015

McLaren’s Jenson Button will have to take a drive-through penalty during Sunday’s Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada 2015 for using new engine elements, following the failure that halted his car in final practice and ruled him out of Montreal qualifying.

Button was already at the back of the grid, thanks to his failure to set a qualifying time, and now faces an even tougher race, thanks to McLaren replacing the turbo and MGU-H on his MP4-30 - both his fifth of the year. Regulations stipulate teams may use no more than four per season.

Using the extra engine elements means a 15-place grid penalty (10 places for the first element, and five for the second), but as Button is already last in the starting order, the penalty is converted to a drive-through penalty which must be served in the opening three laps.