McLaren's Fernando Alonso will collect a 35-place grid penalty for Sunday's Italian Grand Prix after Honda's announcement of changes to his car's power unit.
The penalty means the double world champion, whose future at McLaren remains uncertain due to the team's continuing engine woes, will start at the back of the 20-car grid for the last European race of the season.
His chances were limited anyway at Monza's 'Temple of Speed', the fastest circuit on the calendar where engine performance is crucial.
His Belgian teammate Stoffel Vandoorne suffered a similar fate when he was handed a 65-place penalty for his home race last weekend at Spa-Francorchamps.
Such meaningless penalties incurred through no fault of the driver have come increasingly under scrutiny in Formula One with some saying the system is out of control and must change.
"I hate the fact that we're having to affect the racing because of the technical issues," Formula One managing director Ross Brawn, a title-winning former team principal and ex-Ferrari technical director, told motorsport.com.
"I know you can say if a car breaks down in a race, that's a technical issue and you've affected the race, but I think the fans understand that.
"For a fan to stomach that his hero is on the back of the grid because he had to change the engine, that's not great sport," added the Briton.
Brawn suggested a different form of penalty, or removing it, but acknowledged the sport might have to wait until 2021 when new engine regulations would come into force.
Current Formula One regulations stipulate each driver may use no more than four power units during a championship season, with that number due to be reduced next year to three.
Each power unit is made up of six separate elements; the engine, motor generator unit-kinetic (MGU-K), motor generator unit-heat (MGU-H), the energy store, turbocharger and control electronics.
Grid penalties are imposed if a driver uses more than four of any one of the elements during the course of a season, and for successive breaches.
Honda said Alonso was on his seventh engine and MGU-K, his ninth turbocharger and MGU-H, his sixth energy store and fifth control electronics.
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