Lewis Hamilton handed penalty

Manama : Four-times world champion Lewis Hamilton has been dealt with a huge setback as the racer has been handed a five place grid penalty for today’s race. 

Hamilton will need to start the race today with a five place grid penalty because of breach of rules. The breach related to rules over gearbox changes, the Mercedes driver needed a new gearbox. His car suffered a hydraulics leak during season opener in Australia and had to follow an unscheduled gearbox change. 

According to F1 rules, gear boxes must last for six consecutive races, which Hamilton was not able to abide by.

Confirming the news Mercedes tweeted, “Lewis Hamilton will take a five-place grid penalty for the BahrainGP after having to change his gearbox.” 

Explaining further it said in a following tweet “We had a hydraulic leak during the Australia GP and were fortunate to finish the race. Unfortunately the Team couldn’t repair the gearbox within the six race cycle so need to take a fresh one, incurring the grid penalty.”

In last year’s Bahrain GP Hamilton endured a similar fate after being handed a 5 second penalty after he was deemed to have impeded Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo.