Grosjean to take five-place grid penalty at Monza

Romain Grosjean will take a five-place grid penalty ahead after qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix as a result of a gearbox change.

The Frenchman spun during FP3, losing control at the Ascari chicane and becoming beached in the gravel on the inside of the track. While he managed to keep the car out of the barrier, Grosjean suggested a gearbox problem was to blame and investigations after the session confirmed the source of the issue.

LIVE: Italian Grand Prix - Qualifying

In order to take part in qualifying, Grosjean required a new gearbox, which carries an automatic five-place grid penalty. The drop will be applied following the end of the session.

Grosjean's penalty comes at a race where Haas is competitive in qualifying trim, with both drivers eyeing a spot in Q3 having been in and around the top ten throughout the weekend so far.

Haas has not scored a point since the Austrian Grand Prix, where Grosjean was seventh, adding to top ten results in Australia, Bahrain and Russia.

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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.