Somerset's top stories direct to your inbox Join for free Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Jenson Button’s comeback at the Monaco Grand Prix is still two weeks away, but his task for McLaren in the Principality is in danger of getting a whole lot harder.

Following Fernando Alonso’s engine failure in first practice for the Spanish Grand Prix, the man who Button will replace could be forced to fit a fourth ICE and MGU-K of the season.

Should a driver have to take a fifth component of any part of their power unit, they will automatically incur a ten place grid penalty.

Therefore, should Alonso be forced to fit a new ICE and MGU-K and then suffer a failure to the same component during Sunday’s race, the penalty that the Spaniard would ordinarily incur will instead pass over to Button.

Alonso has suffered a wretched start to the season, failing to finish the first three races due to technical problems, while he did not even start the last race in Russia following a hybrid failure on the formation lap.

He is skipping the race in Monaco to compete in the Indianapolis 500 on the same weekend.

McLaren have been hamstrung by a sub-standard Honda engine in the first part of this season that has left the team struggling to finish races and unable to be competitive.

As the circuit least dependant on engine power, Monaco should offer the team the chance to record their strongest result of the season to date, giving Button an opportunity to score points in his one-off return.

But should he be forced to drop down the grid on a track that is almost impossible to overtake on, what on paper could be a promising comeback may quickly turn into a nightmare.