Sebastian Vettel will take his third grid penalty of the season after his Scuderia Ferrari team were forced to change the gearbox on his SF16-H ahead of qualifying for the British Grand Prix.
The German appeared to have issues as he slowed exiting the final corner during the final practice session held in damp conditions at Silverstone, and immediately called to his team that his gearbox was having issues, saying “I think we failed the gearbox again.”
Following on from his penalties at both the Russian and Austrian Grand Prix, Vettel will drop five places on the grid, and having already changed gearboxes this weekend after taking a new unit at the beginning of the weekend following his retirement at the Red Bull Ring, there must be worries within the Ferrari camp that there is a bigger underlying problem.
Vettel will also be looking to avoid the same fate that has occurred the previous two times he took a gearbox penalty, crashing out of Russia at turn three, and again in Austria after a rear tyre failure on his Ferrari.
Vettel had finished fourth in the first two practice sessions on Friday, and was fifth fastest on Saturday morning before his gearbox issue hit.
