Gasly receives Mexico engine penalty

It’s groundhog day for Pierre Gasly with Honda announcing they will fit his Toro Rosso with a new, latest-specification power unit in Mexico this weekend, triggering a 15-place grid penalty that will send him to the back of the starting field for the second successive race.

The Frenchman started 19th in Austin, after Honda opted to fit a fresh engine with “minor modifications” to his car and that of team mate Brendon Hartley.

On arrival in Mexico, Honda decided to put in another fresh engine because they “have a concern regarding the assembly of the one used in Austin”, according to their Technical Director Toyoharu Tanabe.

He added: “That PU has been sent to Sakura for a full inspection and, at the moment, we are not sure if we can use it again this year. Therefore, by fitting a new one here, we add one to the pool of available units for the rest of this season.”

Honda will then perform another change of engine between first practice and second practice, with Gasly reverting to an older specification of engine used earlier in the season.

Tanabe added: “From FP2 and for the rest of the weekend, Gasly will run an older specification PU. Brendon is also using this spec, for the entire weekend.

“The reason for reverting to the earlier pre-Russia spec is that we have a better understanding of this version of the PU and are more confident in our ability to set it up correctly for the specific conditions here in Mexico City.”