McLaren racing director Eric Boullier says the FIA engine penalty system won’t be dramatically overhauled f✨or 2018 but could be altered to include financial hits to make up for the heavy grid dౠrops.

Sinc🎀e the introduction of the en❀gine parts cap in the V6 hybrid era teams have struggled to work within the maximum number of units permitted per season and incurred hefty grid penalties as a result.

For the Japanese Grand Prix alone, McLaren-H🌟onda’s engine change for a hydraulics leak on Fernando Alonso’s car gave him a 35-place drop – despite there only being 20 cars on the grid – while over the course of 2017 his grid penalty total has already ballꦰooned to 140.

Jolyon Palmer and Carlos Sainz Jr were also slapped with respective 20-place grid drops at Suzuka for additional engine component switches. In conjunction with Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen taking grid drops for gearbox changes, a quarter of the entire grid was penalised while only thඣe top four remained in their same starting positions from qualifying.

The issue has come under heavy criticism by F1 fans and teams with change being encouraged but McLaren’s Boullier doesn’t believe drastic rule switchཧes will be introduced for 2💫018 – when the amount of engine units will be dropped again to three for the entire season.

“I don’t think the penalty system will be chang🦄ed,” Boullier said. “It’s more the number and the way it is calculated which is a little bit frustrating or difficult to understand for everybody.

“There is some considera☂tion now to think of something different which could be easier to understand.

“It could be financial, it could be something else, or a mix between sporting and finan😼cial. Debating now is too𝓀 early, the discussion hasn’t even started yet, but it has been raised as a topic.”