Hamilton avoids gearbox penalty after crash

Lewis Hamilton will not face a gearbox penalty in Montreal despite his W10 requiring a new one after his FP2 crash.

The Brit got it a bit wrong during Friday’s second practice at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and gave the Turn 8 wall a hefty whack.

The impact not only punctured his tyre and damaged the floor of his car but it also broke his gearbox.

However, the good news for Hamilton is that it was an old one.

Mercedes ran an old gearbox in practice, a precaution that many of the teams take as their drivers are adjusting to the weekend’s new venue.

Under F1 regulations, any unscheduled gearbox change during a six-race window is penalised with a five-place grid drop.

Speaking about his crash, which kept him off the track for the rest of the session, Hamilton said: “The boys tried really hard to fix it, but there wasn’t enough time.

“It’s definitely not great to watch the session from the garage; it feels like sitting in the headmaster’s office, wishing to be back in class.

“It was an innocent mistake, I was doing multiple laps on the medium tyre and was really trying to find the limit.

“Obviously I went slightly over, I had a big snap out of Turn 9 and was drifting for a long time, hoping I wouldn’t hit the wall.

“But these things happen; you just have to put it behind you straight away and get back on the horse.”

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