German Grand Prix – Sebastian Vettel and Lando Norris have received starting grid penalties and will start the race at the Hockenheimring from the back row.
Both drivers were eliminated from the first part of the German Grand Prix qualifying session, with Vettel suffering from turbocharger issues and Lando Norris failing to set a competitive enough lap time.
Vettel and Norris had been due to start the race from 20th and 17th respectively, but their respective teams have elected to take new power unit components to take advantage of their low starting positions.
Ferrari have changed Vettel’s control electronics, which gives him a ten-place grid penalty. However, Vettel was due to start at the back anyway, because he failed to set a time in qualifying, meaning he required special dispensation to start the race.
McLaren’s Norris has been given a new MGU-K, energy store and control electronics, which results in an automatic back-of-the-grid penalty.
Due to the technicality of Vettel failing to qualify, Norris only drops to nineteenth on the grid.
The result of this is that Toro Rosso’s Alex Albon is promoted to 16th on the grid, with the to Williams drivers of George Russell and Robert Kubica moving up to seventeenth and eighteenth.
To view the full starting grid for the 2019 German Grand Prix, click here.
