Lewis Hamilton will be penalized five grid places in Austria
Mercedes has detected an issue with Lewis Hamilton's gearbox and will be forced to change it for the remainder of the weekend. He will therefore be penalized five grid places.
Although he dominated the first two free practice sessions, Lewis Hamilton suffered a significant setback with the team’s announcement that they needed to change his gearbox. As it had not completed six consecutive races, this results in an inevitable five-place grid penalty.
Here is something that will not improve the matters for the British driver, who has to contend with a 14-point deficit behind the championship leader, Sebastian Vettel. While some have speculated about a possible consequence of the collision between the two men in Baku, the Silver Arrows have announced that they have ruled out this possibility.
Lewis Hamilton knows he is already condemned to an attacking race on the smallest circuit of the year.
