Why did Lewis Hamilton only receive a ten-place penalty?

The British driver received a ten-place penalty for an engine change, unlike Carlos Sainz who will start from the back of the grid this Sunday.

Published on 08/10/2021 à 17:12

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Why did Lewis Hamilton only receive a ten-place penalty?

In Turkey, Lewis Hamilton dominated the two free practice sessions of the day - Photo Xavi Bonilla / DPPI

Dominant during the day's two free practice sessions at Istanbul Park, Lewis Hamilton will have to do as well during the qualifying session, scheduled for this Saturday at 14:00 p.m. The reason ? The British driver, for a fourth engine change this season, will receive a ten-place penalty on the starting grid on Sunday, in Turkey. Contrary to Max Verstappen where Valtteri Bottas in Russia, or Carlos Sainz this week-end, the seven-time world champion will not have to start from the back of the grid. Mercedes has chosen to change only one component of the powertrain, namely the internal combustion engine, instead of all the parts (MGU-H, MGU-K, Turbo, Electronic box, etc.). For Sky Sports F1, Andrew Shovlin, director of engineering for the German team, explains the reasons for this modification. According to him, Lewis Hamilton would not gain any additional advantage in terms of performance if he were to change his entire engine. “We are simulating all the races until the end of the year. There is balance and the risk of a reliability problem. Obviously the thing we want to avoid is failing during the race and still having to take a penalty. The 10 place penalty is the part that contributes the most to this element of reliability and also the performance of the ICE (internal combustion engine). It’s better to take 10 places than to start from the back of the grid.”

Still according to the British engineer on Sky SportsF1, it is “unlikely” that car of the last winner of the Turkish Grand Prix is undergoing new changes. « There's a lot of pretty intrusive work when you start changing some of these things during the race weekend, so we're pretty happy with the decision we've made so far and that's probably what we Let’s stick to it.” The third free practice session of the weekend will take place this Saturday morning at 11:00 a.m., preceding the qualifying session which will be held at 14:00 p.m. The start of the Turkish Grand Prix will be given at 14:00 p.m. this Sunday.