SPIELBERG, Austria -- Lewis Hamilton will receive a five-place grid drop from wherever he qualifies at the Austrian Grand Prix after his Mercedes team incurred a penalty for fitting a new gearbox to his car ahead of qualifying.
Under the regulations, a drivers' gearbox has to last six consecutive races and the change to Hamilton's car in Austria broke that cycle. As a result, the highest he can hope to qualify on Saturday is sixth (assuming other drivers are not penalised moving him forward) giving him a tough challenge in Sunday's race.
The championship is currently finely poised, with Sebastian Vettel just 14 points ahead of Hamilton in the championship. The issue could provide the Ferrari driver with a golden opportunity to extend his advantage after he finished Friday practice at the Red Bull Ring second only to Hamilton.
The gearbox rule is in the regulations as a way to save costs by limiting the amount of expensive drivetrain components fitted to a car over the course of a year. The rule only applies to the Saturday and Sunday of a race weekend, meaning the gearbox fitted to Hamilton's car during Friday practice would not have been the one that failed.
According to the report from the FIA's technical delegate on Friday night, Mercedes informed the governing body of the gearbox change on Tuesday.
"The above driver [Hamilton] did finish the last race in Baku and this gearbox change was before the six consecutive events expired," the FIA report said. "As this is not in compliance with Article 23.5a of the 2017 Formula One Sporting Regulations, I am referring this matter to the stewards for their consideration. The team informed the technical delegate about the gearbox change on Tuesday, July 4, 2017, at 11:29 hours."
Mercedes ruled out the possibility that the gearbox damage could have been caused by the controversial rear-end collision between Vettel and Hamilton at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.