The Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton, the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli, and the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso have all had new power units installed ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. With the changes unapproved by the FIA, the trio will start the race from the pit lane along with Carlos Sainz, who made unapproved adjustments to his Williams as well.
Hamilton was set to start 16th after having his best lap time deleted, Antonelli qualified in 18th, and Alonso in 19th. The teams saw the poor starting positions ahead of what is set to be a wet and unpredictable race as the perfect excuse to add fresh units to their garages.
Alonso and Antonelli's changes included the Internal Combustion Engine, Turbo Charger, Motor Generator Unit -Heat, and Motor Generator Unit-Kinetic. These four new units are all the fifth of the year and trigger a 10-place grid penalty each, resulting in a 40-grid-place penalty, which is converted to a pit-lane start after 15 grid places. Hamilton's changes included those mentioned above, along with a sixth Engine Exhaust System and a new energy store and control electronics, resulting in a 60-grid-place penalty.
Williams Racing made setup changes to Sainz's No. 55 car during parc fermé, leading to a fourth pit lane start for the 2025 Belgian Grand Prix.
Only 16 cars will start on the grid when the grand prix gets underway. As the start time nears, heavy rain is moving towards the track, with a safety car start or delay in start time expected.
The last time the weather was this bad at Spa resulted in a rule change after the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix, which ended after just three safety car laps, giving Max Verstappen the win and full points. After the 2021 season, the FIA revised its rules to stipulate that at least two laps must be completed under green flag conditions for a race to be counted and award points.
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