Hamilton hit with five-place grid penalty
- Published on 06 Apr 2018 21:42
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- By: Fergal Walsh
Lewis Hamilton is set to receive a five-place grid penalty at the Bahrain Grand Prix as Mercedes will change his gearbox. On Friday evening, the FIA revealed that the Briton's car would be fitted with a fresh gearbox before the commencement of the third practice session.
A gearbox can only be changed penalty-free after it has completed six races. Hamilton's teammate Valtteri Bottas is also going to be fitted with a new gearbox, however he won't be penalised as he is allowed a free change following his penalty for changing the gearbox in Australia.
Mercedes said: "We had an hydraulic leak in Melbourne race and were fortunate to finish the race. Unfortunately we couldn’t repair the box within the six-race cycle so need to take a fresh one, incurring the grid penalty."
The grid-drop means that Hamilton will start Sunday's race from sixth place at the highest. He failed to top both practice sessions on Friday, ending the second practice session over half a second down on Ferrari.
Toto Wolff brushed off the gap to the Maranello outfit, but it appeared that the Silver Arrows were the slowest of the top three teams on the long runs, with Red Bull seeming to have the edge. Mercedes' James Allison admitted after the first day of running that it wasn't entirely comfortable with its day.
"Although we were untroubled by any reliability issues, and we ran through our programme as expected, it wasn't our best day from a performance point of view," he said.
"We've got more to do overnight and in the session tomorrow to give us a car that will allow us to have a good fight in qualifying and on Sunday. The base is okay but we have not yet found the sort of edge that we had in Melbourne."
Fergal Walsh
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Replies (14)
Login to replyf1fan0101
Posts: 1,804
Wow, didn't expect that
Hepp
Posts: 200
Me neither, but at least he has FP3 to set up for it.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Wow, thats unexpected. Yet it explains why Hammy seemingly ran out of steam.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
smh... Once again we will be denied of a proper challenge at the front. I hope more than anyone that I'm wrong, but I'm expecting Sebastian to simply run away with it. Whether on merit, or through Ferrari switching Kimi behind him and slowing people down. I hope I'm wrong in it turns out that Red Bull has a car that can fight Ferrari, and that overtaking is not stupid like in Melbourne and that Lewis mixes it up at the front.
mcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
I wouldn't be too sure of that. Those Redbulls are charging quick, and Bottas might even win the race.
F1_IS_Dead
Posts: 123
Just like expected. Mercedes gave pole to Vettel. A nice way to do it without having to lose on track. One has to think about the gearbox change at Ferrari to switch positions between Alonso and Massa a few years ago.
Don't worry, Ham will "fight back" and win on Sunday. That's what the script says.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
...Still not interested in a tinfoil hat? I mean, they are still on sale...
LightIsRight
Posts: 113
Ahhhh, no gearbox party mode to match the engine party mode? Did the big bad engine party give too much tequila to the gearbox?
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
It is very plausible that we might be seeing the results from their winter struggles with making that gearbox smaller. I dont know if they managed to fix all of their issues, for all we know they might've, but downsizing a gearbox, or any PU component for that matter, while retaining power will be very hard, and even Merc' might struggle in that regard. Might.
xoya
Posts: 583
Given that the DRS zone has been extended coupled with the fact that Mercedes has the best engine and highest top speed, I expect Hamilton to win.
Plus, now we are guaranteed some overtaking action. :)
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Maybe, but I dont think he will win. Look at what he'll have in front of him: Vettel, Kimi, Ricciardo, Verstappen and likely even Bottas. He might overtake the McLarens, Renaults and Haas with ease, but the Merc' struggle with following. Not even party mode helped against Vettel last race (although it might've been emphasized by the gearbox issues). He'll burn his tyres before he'll reach the top.
Pauli
Posts: 140
Also two stop strategy will be hard to make work when starting from a lower position because it is much more likely that first pit stop will leave Hamilton into traffic requiring a few extra overtakes. But it all depends on many variables so we have to wait and see what will happen.
Pauli
Posts: 140
That explains why Hamilton was asked to run race simulation behind a Williams when he asked if he should back off to get clean air.
f1dave
Posts: 782
The "drivers championship" will be determined by equipment failures.