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Lewis Hamilton's grid penalty for using too many engine parts has risen to 55 places at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Hamilton can only drop to the back no matter how many theoretical places he is penalised for changing engine parts. The issue has arisen because of engine failures early in the season.
Hamilton suffered two consecutive failures of the MGU-H - the motor-generator unit that recovers energy from the turbo - at the Chinese and Russian Grands Prix in April, affecting his results at those races and having a knock-on effect.
It meant it was inevitable at some point that Hamilton would have to take a penalty for using more than the permitted number of turbos and MGU-Hs.
Drivers are allowed to use only five of the six constituent parts of the turbo hybrid engines all season - the internal combustion engine, turbo, MGU-H, MGU-K, energy store and control electronics.
At a minimum, Hamilton needed two new turbos and MGU-Hs. As that added up to 30 places, Mercedes have chosen to give Hamilton three brand new complete engines for the remaining nine races because there was nothing to lose.
Hamilton says he is looking forward to the challenge of "damage limitation" in the race. He starts it 19 points ahead of team-mate Nico Rosberg in the championship.
"I feel OK. It is going to be an interesting Sunday," Hamilton, 31, said. "Getting into the top 10 probably won't be the particularly hard thing; it's going to be getting through there that is going to be the problem."
Hamilton won six of the last seven races before F1's summer break, to close what had been a 43-point deficit to Rosberg after the German won the first four races, caused largely by Hamilton's engine problems.