Gasly & Hartley get grid penalties in USA!

Toro Rosso drivers Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley have both received grid penalties for the American Grand Prix as they both have new power units, meaning that they'll start from the back of the grid.

After a disappointing but also very encouraging outing from Toro Rosso in Japan, the home country of their engine partner Honda, the team decided that it would be best to swap out the power units in both of the cars. Doing this will give them a grid penalty, as the rules state that you have to do at least six race weekends with an engine before you're allowed to switch.

“On both cars, the new units will feature minor modifications to the specification when compared to that used in the Japanese Grand Prix,” Honda F1 technical director Toyoharu Tanabe told Crash.net.

“After examining the power units used in Suzuka, we had some concerns and so we have decided to make these changes, which we believe is the best strategy for Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda for the remaining races of the season.”

Gasly's power unit has already been swapped before FP1 even started in Austin, but Hartley will remain with the 'old' engine parts until Saturday. Both cars are a long way over the limit of engine components, meaning that each new part will give them penalties.