Japanese Grand Prix – Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen join Fernando Alonso, Jolyon Palmer and Carlos Sainz in taking grid penalties for the Japanese Grand Prix.
Mercedes’ Bottas was forced into taking a new gearbox after a problem was discovered on Friday, whilst the crash for Raikkonen during free practice three has also forced the Ferrari man into a gearbox change.
Both drivers will take five-place grid penalties and they will start the race from sixth and tenth respectively, having originally qualified in second and sixth.
With both drivers going into qualifying in the knowledge that they had penalties to take, both opted for an alternate tyre strategy.
With all top-ten runners having to start on the tyres they used in Q2, both Bottas and Raikkonen elected to take part in Q2 with the soft tyres, as opposed to the super soft tyres.
This will mean that, assuming the race is dry, they will start the race in the soft-compound tyres, which will last longer than the super softs in a bid to try a different strategy.
Meanwhile, McLaren’s Fernando Alonso will start the race from the back of the grid after taking a 35-place grid penalty after taking his eighth internal combustion engine (ICE), 10th turbocharger and MGU-H, eighth MGU-K, seventh energy store and sixth control electronics.
Renault’s Jolyon Palmer has been handed a 20-place penalty for taking a fifth ICE, sixth turbocharger and sixth MGU-H ahead of free practice three.
Finally, Carlos Sainz also has a 20-place grid penalty after his crash in free practice one. A raft of changes were made to his power unit on Friday; a sixth MGU-H and a fifth internal combustion engine and turbo charger.
