Vettel to suffer 5-place grid drop in Monaco - Sebastian is already on the back foot before the GP weekend begins
Published by Christine
Today is the 19th May and you’re listening to F1Minute.
The Monaco Grand Prix weekend hasn’t even begun yet and already Sebastian Vettel has secured himself a five-place grid drop. After testing out the new STR3 at Paul Ricard last week, and saying he was looking forward to running the new car, Vettel has had a setback. The new car cannot house the gearbox in the same way as the old one, and so it will have to be replaced. Under current four-race gearbox rules, that means a 5-place penalty. Team mate Bourdais doesn’t suffer the same fate as he didn’t finish the last race in Turkey. Team owner Gerhard Berger has said: “Monte Carlo is the last place you want a punishment like that.”
Elsewhere, Frank Williams has admitted that he regrets splitting from former engine partners BMW, after seeing how well the manufacturer team is doing by itself. Williams blames the difficult relationship between the two factions on a lack of communication, but said he couldn’t fault BMW on their hard work and decent engines. He did make sure to complement current engine suppliers Toyota as well.
That’s all for today, I’ll be back tomorrow with another F1Minute.
