F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Hamilton facing five-place grid penalty in Austria

Lewis Hamilton's hopes of closing the gap on his championship rival Sebastian Vettel in this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix have taken a blow.

Hamilton led both of Friday's practice sessions at the Red Bull Ring. That set him up with a strong chance of taking pole position for Sunday's race.

But news emerged in Spielberg on Friday evening that Hamilton had been forced to make a gearbox change. That comes with a five place grid penalty. It would mean he could start this weekend's race no higher than sixth place on the grid.

A note from the FIA's Jo Bauer read: "The above driver did finish the last race in Baku and this gearbox change was before the six consecutive events expired.

"As this is not in compliance with Article 23.5a of the 2017 Formula One Sporting Regulations, I am referring this matter to the stewards for their consideration.

"The team informed the technical delegate about the gearbox change on Tuesday, 4 July 2017, at 11:29 hours."

Indeed, the team was apparently aware of the issue, having discovered that the gearbox had been damaged in Baku, and subsequently informed the FIA well in advance of the replacement. Mercedes confirmed however that the damage was not related to the Vettel incident.

Any untimely replacement of the unit automatically results in a five-place grid penalty. The sanction means that Hamilton will start no higher than sixth on Sunday.

The penalty has not yet been confirmed. However, it is virtually unavoidable after being referred to the stewards.

Hamilton is 14 points behind behind Vettel in the Formula 1 world championship standings. He lost ground to Vettel after the controversial Azerbaijan Grand Prix where Vettel was penalised for making intentional contact with Hamilton.

 

GALLERY: F1 drivers' wives and girlfriends

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

Recent Posts

Brundle: Hamilton's Ferrari debut ‘disappointing by any metric’

Sky F1’s Martin Brundle delivered a scathing assessment of Lewis Hamilton’s race debut with Ferrari,…

60 mins ago

A quiet man on the verge of F1 greatness

On this day in 1977, Carlos Pace was killed in a light aircraft accident near…

2 hours ago

Domenicali tips Hamilton to win with Ferrari in 2025

Formula 1 chief executive officer Stefano Domenicali has ignited excitement with a confident prediction: Lewis…

3 hours ago

Norris replies to Russell: ‘Sorry mate, that’s not the right mentality'

Lando Norris has emphatically dismissed George Russell’s suggestion that McLaren’s early-season dominance in 2025 is…

5 hours ago

Red Bull targets upgrades to tackle tyre woes and chase McLaren

Red Bull is setting its sights on closing the gap to McLaren in the 2025…

6 hours ago

Formula 1 and teams lock in future with new Concorde Deal

Formula 1’s future has been set in stone, with the announcement that all 11 teams…

21 hours ago