Lewis Hamilton handed five-place grid penalty for gearbox change
ByReuters
Updated 06/04/2018 at 22:03 GMT
Four-times world champion Lewis Hamilton has been handed an automatic five-place grid penalty for Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix after his Mercedes car needed to be fitted with a new gearbox.
Mercedes' British driver Lewis Hamilton drives during the second practice session ahead of the qualifiers for the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix at the Sakhir circuit in Manama on April 6, 2018.
Image credit: Getty Images
"(Hamilton) will take a five place penalty. We had an hydraulic leak in (the last) Melbourne race and were fortunate to finish the race," a Mercedes spokesman said.
"Unfortunately we couldn’t repair the box within the six race cycle so need to take a fresh one, incurring the grid penalty."
Hamilton finished second in the Australian season-opener two weeks ago, after storming to pole position.
The race was won by Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, thanks to a stroke of luck provided by the deployment of the virtual safety car at just the right time for the German, also a four-times champion.
Ferrari were one-two at the top of the end of day practice timesheets in Bahrain on Friday, with 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen ahead of Vettel.
Hamilton is still on course to rack up his 27th successive points finish, a result that would equal Raikkonen's all-time record.
The Briton's team mate Valtteri Bottas took pole in Bahrain last year, the fifth year in a row that a Mercedes driver had done that, but Vettel won the race.
The winner in Bahrain has started on pole on five of the past 13 occasions.
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