Vettel set for penalty after gearbox change

Sebastian Vettel will receive a five-place grid penalty at the Austrian Grand Prix after taking a new gearbox.

Ferrari has changed Vettel's gearbox before the end of the mandatory six consecutive events, with the team saying it had reliability concerns regarding the previous gearbox.

Vettel has started from third place in each of the last two races in Canada and Azerbaijan, finishing second on both occasions. However, he will drop five places on the grid at the Red Bull Ring as a result of an automatic penalty for the gearbox change.

The FIA technical delegate's report confirmed a new gearbox had been taken, reading: "[Vettel] did finish the last race in Baku and this gearbox change was before the six consecutive Events expired. Therefore this is not in compliance with Article 23.6a of the 2016 Formula One Sporting Regulations".

Ferrari informed the FIA of its plan to use a new gearbox this weekend on Thursday. Austria will mark the first race of a new set of six consecutive events, meaning this gearbox will need to last until the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, with Vettel able to take a new gearbox in Singapore.

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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.