Nico Hulkenberg will take a five-place grid penalty for the 2017 Hungarian Grand Prix following a gearbox change.
Valtteri Bottas, Daniel Ricciardo, Jolyon Palmer, Romain Grosjean, Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz Jnr will all use new gearboxes this weekend without incurring penalties.
Hulkenberg said he had a “standard Friday” after setting the seventh-fastest time in practice at the Hungaroring. “We had to fight to find grip at times today, but this was just an aspect of a pretty usual Friday for us,” he said.
This will be the first grid penalty of 2017 for Hulkenberg and Renault. His only previous penalties this year were in China for overtaking under the Safety Car, for which he received a five and a ten-second time penalty during the race.
Renault technical director Nick Chester said the team saw “good potential” from its car this weekend. “Nico was pretty happy with the balance and tyre wear was reasonable so we have a decent base to work with,” said Chester.
Jordi Casademunt (@casjo)
28th July 2017, 18:25
I swear, this will be one of these races where the best of the rest gets a surprise podium.
Hugh (@hugh11)
28th July 2017, 18:26
Hooray… (:
Promaha
28th July 2017, 21:13
And again he will probably be infront of palmer …
Miltiadis (@miltosgreekfan)
28th July 2017, 22:50
Good chance for McLaren to score good points, as Hulk has this penalty & Massa is sick & who knows if he will be ok for tomorrow :/
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
29th July 2017, 0:06
Drivers shouldn’t carry the penalty.. this rule needs changing
Sonics (@sonicslv)
29th July 2017, 5:54
@nosehair Yes, since it’s the car fault then the car should get the penalty. Car X should get penalty instead of driver Y. It more fair to do that and people just need to find out which driver drive that car. Oh wait, why Jenson Button got a grid penalty in Monaco again? /sarcasm
faulty (@faulty)
29th July 2017, 1:31
Great news! Let’s go Jo!
John H (@john-h)
29th July 2017, 7:53
Can’t they simply dock the position finish for the constructors championship? Say where ever the car finishes, take away 3 places or something. Drivers being punished for these infringements is not correct.
Kie
29th July 2017, 9:03
Totally agree John, it is ridiculous really although it does mix the field up somewhat, for better or worse.
Hugh (@hugh11)
29th July 2017, 9:08
That’s actually an interesting idea…
bogaaaa (@nosehair)
29th July 2017, 14:19
Driver fault driver gets the penalty car/team gets constructors points taken away or a fine ect