Valtteri Bottas will be penalized five places for this weekend’s United States Grand Prix. This was after Mercedes installed a sixth new engine in his car, more than the season’s limit.
Bottas has been slapped with a flurry of penalties in recent weeks due to new Power Units at the Italian and Russian Grands Prix. He has another for the Austin weekend with a new Internal Combustion Engine.
The current switch was made because it delivers the “best balance of performance and reliability to the end of the season,” according to Mercedes.
“We’ve unfortunately had since mid-year some reliability issues that keep coming back,” added team boss Toto Wolff to Sky Sports F1.
“I think we understand now much better what it is, but it means that there is no durability in running them and that means potential DNFs.”
Vettel and Russell’s engines modified
It’s the same thing Lewis Hamilton changed at the last race in Turkey. It raised fears that the championship contender won’t make it to the conclusion of the season without incurring yet another penalty.
The US GP is the first of six races that will conclude the season, and Hamilton is six points behind Max Verstappen. Both drivers are on their fourth and fifth engines of the season.
Three Mercedes-powered cars now have grid penalties for this weekend. Including Sebastian Vettel in the Aston Martin and George Russell in the Williams.
Vettel and Russell’s engines have been modified, including the turbos and MGU-Hs. They will start from the rear of the grid in Sunday’s race. Which will be shown live on Sky Sports F1 at 8 p.m.
Bottas, who won the last race in Turkey as Hamilton recovered from his engine penalty. Will start five positions lower than his qualifying position.
“The penalty is less than the previous one
“But it’s still not nice because it’s such a tight battle,” said Wolff.
“Even if you’re on pole, you’re going to have a difficult time to have back.”
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