Sebastian Vettel will take a ten-place grid penalty as a result of a Ferrari engine upgrade at the United States Grand Prix.
Ferrari still had four power unit tokens to use this season and has continued development of its engine with an update in Austin. With Vettel taking a new specification of power unit he is automatically hit with a penalty, confirming on Thursday he will drop ten places but expects "a big step" forward.
“We will have the hit of ten places on the grid for the new engine, but it has always been the plan," Vettel said. "It is not a big secret, it is not a surprise to us. To explain, this was the plan to have the strongest engine available at every single point in the season and I think the engine guys have done a massive job.
“This shouldn’t be understood as a downside, if anything this is a positive sign because we have been pushing hard and the guys managed to make big steps in terms of performance.”
With Vettel still in with a mathematical chance of winning the drivers' championship - which Lewis Hamilton can win in Austin - he says Ferrari is thinking of the bigger picture with the penalty.
"If you look at this race isolated, it is not great news but you have to look at the whole project and season. It was always the plan to have a fresh engine here and the priority was to have maximum power at every race. We have to take the hit here but we should see the positives that we were able to make big steps."
Vettel's Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen is also expected to take the same penalty this weekend.
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