Hamilton gets gearbox change penalty

2013 Bahrain Grand Prix

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Lewis Hamilton will be moved back five places on the grid for the Bahrain Grand Prix due to a gearbox change.

Hamilton incurred the damage on the car at the end of final practice when he suffered a suspension failure and tyre delamination.

Hamilton joins Mark Webber and Esteban Gutierrez who already have penalties for this weekend’s race.

2013 Bahrain Grand Prix

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Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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24 comments on “Hamilton gets gearbox change penalty”

  1. Seems Mercedes still got the reliability problems they had last year, with Rosbergs car already broken down twice in a race, and now Hamiltons’ in practise. Thats trouble 3 weekends out of 4.

    1. @me4me
      I really think this has absolutely nth to do with Mercedes reliability. Pretty sure if it hadnt been for that blown-up tire, they wouldn’t have changed the gearbox.

      1. Is it actually confirmed it was the tire blowing up? To me it seemed like a suspension failure, which then ruined the tyre.

        1. suspension failure would hardly do that much damage and in that way to the tyre…I think the tyre itself went and then caused the suspension issue and as a result of that gearbox change…have you ever seen what damage a tyre can do when it blows out like that? …. i have and the whole wheel arch and suspension arm on the car in question had to be replaced… However, the only true and honest thing to say is we won’t know until they confirm what happened.

    2. Hamilton will have a DNF, I can tell. Anybody wants to bet?

  2. So, Hamilton gets a penalty because of Pirelli’s joke-tires. Nice job, Pirelli.

    1. No, Hamilton got a penalty because he pushed too hard, got a puncture, and damaged his car.

      Everybody else managed just fine.

    2. Hope his last year luck didn’t follow him to his new team.

    3. yeah big joke as the other 21 Cars fitted in Different Tyres..

      Once again a sore Loser Lewis fan

      1. @sonkky
        Right, apparently you haven’t watched Button and Max Chilton have the same issue just weeks ago. But i guess for it to represent a true problem, you must have all 21 cars blow up their tyres.

      2. @sonkky and the worst poster of 2013 goes to…

    4. thatscienceguy
      20th April 2013, 12:08

      Tyre failures have been happening in F1 for 63 years. But no, let’s turn it into a way to criticise Pirelli. Well done.

      1. @thescienceguy

        if you care to show me other examples from those 63 years of F1 in which a tire delaminated after a whopping amount of 5 laps (Hamilton) or 20 laps (Button and i think Chilton too), then you’ll have an argument.

        1. @andrewf1 it appears that the tyre failure was caused by debris on the track –

          http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/106928?source=mostpopular

    5. This always gets into the fact the 5-place grid penalty for gearbox penalties is not well liked by the fans. In this event, it is really worse, as it isn’t Mercedes’ fault by all accounts as the tyre gave up!

      1. Good point . And why does the driver has to suffer as well. Punish the team by taking points, if won anyway.

  3. this would help force india, to get higher in the top ten and aim for good points.

  4. Here come’s Hamilton’s bad run, we all know it will be a bad run it happen’s every season ah well id start on primes if he is 5th because with grid penalty he has a free choice.

  5. Feel sorry for Ham

  6. The delamination caused the suspension faliure, which in turn caused the gearbox issues.

  7. My prediction-
    Ham- DNF
    Rosberg will lose out on strategy.
    Vettel- Win
    Alosno- 2nd
    3rd- Up for grabs. Hopefully Kimi but what heart says brain doesn’t acknowledge.

  8. What about Massa on hard in 4th, could rob them all maybe…

  9. Debris cause the tyre to fail, and through no fault of the driver or the team they get a penalty

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