Heading into qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton faces a five-place grid penalty due to an unscheduled gearbox change, with the gearbox failing to complete the mandatory six races that it has to in its lifetime.
Lewis Hamilton faces grid penalty for Austrian Grand Prix
After topping FP1 and FP2 on Friday, this will be a huge blow for Hamilton as it means that he will not be able to start higher on the grid than sixth place, regardless of where he qualifies.
This places another bump on Hamilton’s 2017 championship campaign as the penalty means that he will most likely start behind his rival, Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton currently trails Vettel in the Drivers’ Championship by 14 points heading into this weekend’s race at the Red Bull Ring.
Speaking to the press after second practice, before finding out about his looming penalty, Hamilton said: “The car felt good. It was a pretty good day. The track felt pretty good from the get go, the grip was amazing from the start. We had a good baseline to start with and we kept chipping away at it. We are going to work hard tonight to try and find some more performance. I got the car to the limit and we’ll now look at the weaknesses to improve. We generally do improve Friday to Saturday.”
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