Five-place penalty for Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo, 30 for Fernando Alonso
Bad news for Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo, who were forced to change their gearboxes. They will drop five places on the grid, while Fernando Alonso is guaranteed to start last with a 30-place penalty.
Similar scenario but different victim: in Austria, Lewis Hamilton dominated both Friday sessions only to be stripped of any chance to be on pole with a penalty for a gearbox change. At Silverstone, it’s Valtteri Bottas’s turn to find himself in exactly the same situation.
Note that Lewis Hamilton also changed his gearbox, but as he had already made a change before the six consecutive races, he was not in violation of the technical regulations. Mercedes stated that the origin of the problem was the same for both cars and that a countermeasure had been implemented to prevent it from occurring in the future.
Valtteri Bottas is not alone in his misfortune as Daniel Ricciardo also finds himself in the same situation.
A sixth consecutive podium will therefore be more difficult to achieve for the Australian driver, but the British circuit offers some overtaking zones, favorable to a comeback.
The battle for qualifications should therefore come down to a duel between Lewis Hamilton and the Ferrari drivers, while Max Verstappen might come in as a surprise contender.
Fernando Alonso also joined the list of penalized drivers, but once again, McLaren did not hold back as the team changed all four components of the Honda power unit. This results in a 30-place grid penalty, but it will allow the Spaniard to have almost new components for the Hungarian Grand Prix, where overtaking is nearly impossible.
From our special correspondent at Silverstone
