Valtteri Bottas will start the Australian Grand Prix from 16th place after receiving a gearbox penalty.

Bottas failed to maximise the potential of his Williams during Saturday's qualifying session and was knocked out in 11th place, five spots behind team-mate Felipe Massa. That result has now been compounded by the need for a gearbox change, which demotes Bottas another five places.

With the Williams now starting from 16th place, Fernando Alonso moves up to 11th place while Jenson Button, Jolyon Palmer, Kevin Magnussen and Marcus Ericsson also all gain a spot.

It has been a bad 24 hours for Williams as the team has also been handed a reprimand for failing to "submit complete suspension set-up sheets for car 77 [Bottas] before the car left the pit lane for the first time in qualifying".

Williams was only reprimanded as: "The team made reasonable efforts to provide the sheet but due to a change in team document format failed to provide all required information by the deadline."

As it happened: Qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix

F1i's Australian Grand Prix preview

2016 F1 season: Team-by-team preview

Eric Silbermann

Recent Posts

Hakkinen reveals the Schumacher edge that ‘really pissed me off’

Mika Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher — two titans of Formula 1 whose duels in the…

1 hour ago

‘It’s all nonsense’: Former F1 insider slams Perez's Red Bull claims

The checkered flag may have dropped on Sergio Perez’s Red Bull career, but the verbal…

3 hours ago

Andretti fires successful opening salvo in Argentina

On this day in 1978, Mario Andretti kicked off his banner championship winning year with…

4 hours ago

Not a one-off: Hill sees multiple world titles for Norris

Damon Hill knows a thing or two about what it takes to climb Formula 1’s…

5 hours ago

Domenicali calls for calm and a plan as Ferrari eyes 2026 reset

Formula 1’s most polished powerbroker has seen this movie before – and Stefano Domenicali is…

6 hours ago

Verstappen puts Bathurst 1000 Supercar event on bucket list

Max Verstappen’s racing curiosity has never been confined to Formula 1 – and now, one…

8 hours ago