Lewis Hamilton will start the race 10 places lower than his qualifying position after Mercedes fitted a new ICE (Internal Combustion Engine), his fourth of the season; Mercedes hoping to limit penalty damage in title fight against Max Verstappen and Red Bull
Friday 8 October 2021 11:57, UK
Lewis Hamilton will take a 10-place grid penalty for Sunday's Turkish GP after Mercedes fitted the championship leader with a new engine in Istanbul.
Hamilton has been moved onto his fourth ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) of the season, one more than is permitted in the F1 regulations.
But as that is the only element that has been changed on his Power Unit, Hamilton is set to avoid the back-of-the-grid start that title rival Max Verstappen served at the last race in Russia.
Hamilton, who was fastest in Istanbul's first practice session, will start the race 10 places lower than his qualifying position.
While Hamilton played down the possibility of an engine penalty coming into the weekend, Mercedes had told Sky Sports that they wanted to avoid taking reliability "risks" in the championship battle against Verstappen.
There are only seven races left in the season and Mercedes feared a DNF if they did not take a fourth engine.
"We're simulating all the races to the end of the year," explained Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin.
"There's a balance of the risk of a reliability issue, obviously the thing you definitely don't want to do is fail during a race and then have to take a penalty anyway, and then there's the performance element because the Power Units do lose a bit of a horsepower over their life.
"It's better to take 10 places than start at the back."
Red Bull's Verstappen recovered from 20th to second at the Russian GP to limit Hamilton's title lead to just two points despite taking his big penalty with a completely new Honda engine.
Hamilton isn't the only driver serving an engine penalty this weekend; Carlos Sainz will start at the back of the grid with Ferrari's new PU.
