Lewis Hamilton takes five place grid penalty for China - McLaren change a gearbox, causing a penalty in Shanghai
Published by Christine
This is F1Minute - Lewis Hamilton takes five place grid penalty for China.
The cars have not yet hit the track at the Shanghai International Circuit but Lewis Hamilton has already found himself with a qualifying penalty. The McLaren driver will drop five places from wherever he finishes on Saturday after confirming that his car will have a gearbox change.
Talking about how the penalty will affect his race, Hamilton said: “It doesn’t change my approach. You still have to qualify as high up as possible. I won from third last year and I will just have to try and win from further back... We have got a quick car and hopefully with our upgrades we’ll be quite competitive.”
Hamilton took victory in China last year, and it was Jenson Button winning in 2010, so the pair are keen to remain on top. Talking of whether Hamilton’s penalty will help him, Button said: “You’d say it should make life easier for me, but does it? I don’t know. We have to wait and see. In a way it does, but then it also throws it up in the air a lot more. It’s a strange one.”
