Engine change for Kovalainen

McLaren have decided to give Heikki Kovalainen a penalty-free engine change prior to qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix.

The rules allow for one engine switch per season without penalty and Kovalainen has not had one all season, and the team opted to do so this morning after noticing some wear on Kovalainen's Mercedes V8.

"We have changed the engine in Heikki's car as a precaution," said Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug.

"We saw a little bit of usage in the engine and this is a joker engine – so there is no grid penalty applied. The decision was taken yesterday."

"If there was not a free engine rule we would certainly have done nothing, and the chances that we would not have a problem are really high," he said.

"It is a critical time of the year and if you have it available you should use it. We have had very good reliability so far. If you see only a risk of one or two percent, maybe it is even less, then you should use it if you can."