» Alonso, Merhi get engine change penalties

Sunday’s Russian Grand Prix will have an all-Spanish back row on the grid after the FIA confirmed engine change penalties have been issued to McLaren’s Fernando Alonso and Manor’s Roberto Merhi.

Alonso was hit with a 35-place grid penalty, while Merhi receives a 20-place drop, after both drivers switched to new power unit elements ahead of Friday’s first practice session at the Sochi Autodrom.

Alonso tested an upgraded Honda power unit, featuring exhaust and combustion updates.

Alonso’s is made up of 10 places for a tenth Internal Combustion Engine (ICE), plus further drops for a ninth Turbo Charger (TC), ninth Motor Generator Unit-Heat (MGU-H) and seventh Control Electronics (CE).

Merhi will ‘drop’ 20 grid places for a number of power unit element changes.

Merhi, meanwhile, will lose grid places for a fifth Ferrari ICE, along with a fifth TC and MGU-H.

Merhi is back behind the wheel for Manor Marussia in Russia, with Alexander Rossi – who raced at the Singapore and Japanese Grands Prix – back on GP2 Series duty with Racing Engineering.

Images via McLaren and XPB Images