Romain Grosjean will incur a five-place grid penalty for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix after his Lotus F1 Team were forced to change his gearbox ahead of the third free practice session at Spa-Francorchamps.
Grosjean stopped on track in the closing seconds of FP2, citing a loss of all drive, but will now drop down the grid after qualifying on Saturday.
Despite stopping on track, Grosjean felt positive about his Friday running after finishing seventh quickest on track, and hopes to have a good weekend in Belgium.
“That was a good session for me,” said Grosjean. “My first runs weren’t great and it was clear we had to make some changes to the car’s set-up.
“Once we did that the car felt a lot better and I felt that the car was a lot more how I wanted it with the soft tyres.
“We have a few other niggles to rectify but it’s lovely to drive Spa with wonderful warm weather.
“If we can find a little more pace from the car I think we can have a pretty good weekend here.”
The Frenchman was also issued a reprimand from the stewards at the end of the day after being found guilty of running too slowly towards the end of the lap earlier in the session and compromising a quick lap by Sahara Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg.
