Grid penalties confirmed for Ricciardo and Hulkenberg

Renault have confirmed that Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg will receive grid penalties for the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday due to them both receiving the new Spec-C power unit.

Remarkably, this is Ricciardo’s fifth engine of the season and Hulkenberg’s sixth, meaning they have already exceeded the allowed power units before penalties are introduced.

It hasn’t been a vintage season for Renault as, despite having aspirations of closing the gap to the top three, they have constantly been let down by engine reliability and are languishing in sixth in the drivers’ championship. They are already on the backfoot in Belgium due to the penalty of five grid places.

UPDATE ?
We will be using a new ICE on both cars today. It's a spec C, with minor upgrades to reliability and performance. Introducing it here will incur a 5-place penalty for both drivers for Sunday's race.#RSspirit #BelgianGP

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— Renault F1 Team (@RenaultF1Team) August 30, 2019

The French team are not the only outfit to introduce new components this weekend, as Honda for Red Bull and Toro Rosso and Mercedes will freshen things up.

Red Bull and Toro Rosso have received penalties for Alexander Albon and Daniil Kvyat, while Mercedes are safe as they are within the allocated engine limit.