Both Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo are set to drop five places on the grid for the British Grand Prix after gearbox changes ahead of qualifying.
Bottas, winner of last weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, was the first announced that he would be taking a penalty, with his Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team revealing that the Finn’s gearbox was damaged in the same way team-mate Lewis Hamilton’s was seven days ago that saw the British racer also take a penalty.
The team were trying to make the gearbox last for the six race period they are required to last before they can be changed without penalty, but Mercedes informed the stewards at Silverstone that this would not now be possible, and Bottas will therefore take the grid penalty.
The team are confident the problems that have caused two grid penalties in as many weeks will not resurface after understanding what the issue was.
Late on Friday evening, the stewards were also informed by Red Bull Racing that Ricciardo’s gearbox also needs changing, and it will also likely result in the same penalty as Bottas as again it has not lasted the mandatory six races.
Fernando Alonso is set to start the race at the back of the grid after further engine changes on his McLaren Honda Formula 1 Team MCL32 means he now has a thirty-place penalty, but it does mean he will have fresh elements for the race.
