McLaren use Heikki's 'joker' engine change

Saturday 27th September 2008

McLaren have used Heikki Kovalainen's 'joker' engine change ahead of Saturday's qualifying for the Singapore GP.

Under this year's regulations all engines have to last two races weekends. However, every driver is given one free change at the start of the season, which they can use whenever they want without incurring a penalty.

And McLaren used Kovalainen's earlier today in Singapore.

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

"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."

Haug, though, was quick to point out that the engine had been changed only as a precautionary measure.

"If there was not a joker engine 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."