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.

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"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.

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