Romain Grosjean will be penalized 5 places in Hockenheim
Without noise, the Lotus number 10 encountered a gearbox problem in the very last lap of Sunday's British Grand Prix. Romain Grosjean's car will therefore require a brand-new gearbox for the German race, forcing him to start 5 places further back on the grid.
Romain Grosjean experienced it all at Silverstone. Between his off-track excursion in Q3, his problems at the first corner forcing him to stop after only two laps, and his climb back to 6th place, the Franco-Swiss driver’s British weekend was anything but restful. To all these known events, we can now add a mechanical problem.
Indeed, in the final lap of the race, his Lotus E20 showed signs of wear on the gearbox side. While Romain Grosjean was able to reach the finish line without this issue affecting his final result, his German weekend will be impacted, as the gearbox requires a change outside the regulatory cycle of 5 races that must be completed with the same gearbox, resulting in a 5-place grid penalty.
James Allison, Lotus technical director, explains that in his misfortune, the Geneva native was lucky, narrowly avoiding retirement: “We are lucky that Romain [Grosjean] did not have this problem earlier in the race. Unfortunately for Romain, he will suffer a 5-place grid penalty at Hockenheim, but he undoubtedly showed at Silverstone that dropping down the hierarchy doesn’t stop him over the long haul.”
Lotus indeed has one of the best cars in the race, and according to Romain Grosjean’s own words, they only need to work on their qualifications to achieve victory: « We need to put everything together. We have been saying it for a little while now, but I am sure it will come. If we manage to qualify well – on the first two rows – then I am sure we can win. » declared the Lotus driver even before the penalty was known.
At best, Romain Grosjean will be only 6th on the grid, on the third row. Verdict expected at the end of next week after the qualifying sessions.
