SILVERSTONE -- Valtteri Bottas will receive a five-place grid penalty at the British Grand Prix after Mercedes was forced to make an unscheduled gearbox change on his car.
Under the regulations, a driver's gearbox is required to last six consecutive races and any break in the cycle results in a five-place grid penalty. As a result, the highest he can hope to qualify on Saturday is sixth (assuming other drivers ahead of him are not penalised moving him forward) presenting a tough challenge in Sunday's race.
It is Mercedes' second gearbox failure in as many races after Bottas' teammate Lewis Hamilton suffered the same issue at the last round and was dropped to eighth on the grid.