Mercedes has suffered a gearbox problem for the second consecutive race weekend. In Austria, it was Lewis Hamilton who took a penalty and at Silverstone, it’s Valtteri Bottas’ turn.
Yep, the Red Bull Ring race winner set the pace in both free practice sessions for the British GP on Friday, but his day didn’t end on a high note.
That’s because Mercedes has confirmed Bottas will pick up a five-place grid penalty for this Sunday’s race due to a gearbox change.
CONFIRMED: @ValtteriBottas will take a five-place grid penalty after an unscheduled gearbox change #BritishGP @F1 pic.twitter.com/JhrjQ0j8QZ
— Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) July 14, 2017
Interestingly, Mercedes says Bottas’ gearbox was damaged “in the same way as Lewis’ was” but less severely.
They had hoped to “coax it to the end of the cycle” – gearboxes have to run for six consecutive races – but that wasn’t the case.
It means Bottas has some extra work to do if he wants to replicate the result from Austria, where he put in a controlled drive to victory number two of his career.
Hamilton qualified third and dropped to eighth on the grid with his gearbox penalty, but recovered to fourth. Bottas will be hoping to do the same.
