Fernando Alonso has said that any driver that exceeds the number of engines limit in Formula 1 should have to start from the back of the grid, with Lewis Hamilton one of those who would fall foul of such a ruling.

Formula 1 heads to Saudi Arabia this weekend for its debut at the Jeddah street circuit and many are of the opinion that Mercedes could be the favourites for victory.

Indeed, long straights and fast, sweeping corners mean power is important and Hamilton is set to be equipped with the near-new Internal Combustion Engine that propelled him to victory in Brazil back in November.

Such a power advantage could be crucial, particularly at this stage of the season, but Alonso feels as though it's not quite right that Lewis, or any other driver for that matter, can now enjoy that boost having gone over the engine limit and served one 5-place penalty for it:

"Those who have exceeded a certain number of engines per year should be sent to the back of the grid," the Alpine driver told Spanish outlet AS.

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Of course, it's not Hamilton's call at the end of the day and Alonso is just making a wider point about the regulations, and you can sort of see where he is coming from.

The limits are there to try and improve cost-saving in Formula 1 but if the gains outweigh the cons on track, teams are still happily going to go over the limit - particularly when a championship is at stake.

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