Lotus driver Romain Grosjean has been hit with a massive 20 place grid penalty heading into the final race.
The Frenchman, 28, has been forced to change his Internal Combustion Engine (ICE), Turbocharger (TC) and MGU-H. All of these components are his sixth of the season.
F1 regulations allow the use of five of every part for this season, with the first exception forcing the driver to drop 10 places. Every additional sixth faces another 5 places to be dropped. This means Grosjean has accumulated a whopping 20 place penalty in total.
A new rule for this season means any places that couldn’t be dropped due to the driver’s grid position would be carried on to the next round. This causes a problem, as we are at the final race of the year. The FIA have decided to add penalties to Grosjean’s race time for each place he doesn’t serve.
If he fails to serve 1-5 places, he will receive a 5 second time penalty at the end of the race. If he fails to serve 6-10, he will pick up a 10 second post race penalty. Any more, he will be handed with a drive through penalty. The pace of the Lotus, and 20 car grid, means that poor Grosjean is unlikely to end the year on a high.
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