Hartley, Hulkenberg and Vandoorne get grid penalties

2017 United States Grand Prix

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Formula One newcomer Brendon Hartley will have a grid penalty for his first Formula One race after Toro Rosso had to change parts of his power unit.

Nico Hulkenberg and Stoffel Vandoorne have also incurred grid penalties for this weekend’s United States Grand Prix.

Hartley’s 25-place grid penalty means he is likely to start from the back row. Toro Rosso have fitted the fifth engine, MGU-H, energy store and control electronics to his car. Vandoorne will have a five-place grid drop and Hulkenberg will be moved back 20 places.

This article will be updated.

2017 United States Grand Prix

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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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    21 comments on “Hartley, Hulkenberg and Vandoorne get grid penalties”

    1. so penalties follow the driver or the car? How can a new driver have a penalty?
      maybe he can switch cars for qualy then and get to the front?

      1. As far as I’m concerned they are connected to the teams car slot. Therefore replacing the driver or car doesn’t have any effect and it shouldn’t.

        1. Yeah, when you first think about it and hear a new driver is penalized by the previous actions it makes no sense. But then just think what is being changed, it’s parts of the car so use rate/penalties staying with the car makes the most sense. Not like teams would really try to cheat the rules by running new drivers each time they run out of engines. I’m sure driver continuity is much more important for success and setup.

          But if a team needed additional engines for the end of a season and the other driver on the team has a change remaining or life cycle on an engine; would moving the driver to the ‘other’ car mean he now has a free engine? I’d like to think those permutations have been thought out through the rules but it is the FIA so who knows.

        2. Perhaps an addendum to the rules is required as drivers seem to be subordinate to the cars they drive? “Every car is allowed four ICE, turbos, MGU-H, MGU-K and driver units for the season. Once a fifth unit is installed, the car will automatically incur a 25-place grid penalty.”

    2. Good decision by STR, let Kvyat drive Sainz’ car without the penalties. He is their best bet at the moment. And it might help out Hartley as well. He might have a bigger chance of avoiding first corner troubles and there is less pressure for him…

    3. Shouldn’t apply to a new driver.

      Not their fault.

      1. It applies to the car. You cannot let a team get away with it by just replacing a driver when the penalty is due?

        1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
          21st October 2017, 0:17

          Which team would replace a driver to get away with penalties and which driver would allow himself to be replaced?

          It’s insane that he has to have a penalty in his F1 debut… They should make an exception

          1. Teams with a number one and number two driver could swap them between the cars … number two always gets the penalties, number one gets benefit of upgraded unit(s) the following round(s).

    4. Is Hartley driving Sainz’s car and getting his penalties? In that case Gasly will be driving in two different cars, therefore his power unit allocation will vary. How does that work in the rules?

      1. @enigma Hartley is driving Gasly’s car (originally Kvyat’s) while Kvyat is driving the car used originally by Sainz.

        1. so kvyat has swapped his season’s allowance? wow, this is messy. could a title contender do that?

          1. Only if they sat out a race, I think, which a title contender wouldn’t do.

            1. Which rule says that?

    5. What a farce. As if everyone but Merc drivers arnt handicapped enough as it is. They should be adding weight to Merc so it at least resembles an actual sport.

      1. They should be adding weight to Merc so it at least resembles an actual sport.

        How does that make it a fair sport? I don’t get it.

      2. So penalise the manufacturer who had developed the most reliable package…….great idea……

    6. What are Hulk & VD’s penalties for? Yes, I realise what I just wrote. Sorry..

    7. Only if they sat out a race, I think, which a title contender wouldn’t do.

      1. Oops, dupe because the site is having issues.

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