Sunday, April 22, 2012

Gearbox penalty for Schumacher: Provisional Grid

Michael Schumacher had qualified at a dissapointing 18th position in the 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix. However, he was to start at 17th position, as Pastor Maldonado of Williams was hit with a Gearbox penalty. Drivers are penalised 5 places for a gearbox change. Each gearbox has to last 4 races.

However, Mercedes has decided that they will change the gearbox of Michael Schumacher's car No. 7. Hence, Michael Schumacher is likely to start at 18th place on the grid.

With smart Ross Brawn being at the helm of Mercedes, they may chose to change the setup of Michael's car and start him from the pit lane. One has to remember that the heat and surface characteristics of the Bahrain circuit is likely to eat up tires. Michael Schumacher because of his Q1 exit has two spare sets of tires. So I am sure, they will change the set up of his car to take the benefit of the extra tyres and start him from the pit lane. Till then the provisional starting grid for the 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix is as follows:

Provisional Grid:
1. Sebastian Vettel Redbull  
2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren 
3. Mark Webber Redbull  
4. Jenson Button McLaren  
5. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 
6. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 
7. Romain Grosjean Lotus  
8. Sergio Perez Sauber  
9. Fernando Alonso Ferrari
10. Paul di Resta Force India
11. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus  
12, Kamui Kobayashi Sauber  
13. Nico Hulkenberg Force India  
14. Felipe Massa Ferrari 
15. Bruno Senna Williams  
16. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham  
17. Jean Eric Vergne Toro Rosso
18. Vitaly Petrov Caterham
19.   Charles Pic Marussia
20.   Pedro de La Rosa HRT 
21.   Pastor Maldonado Williams 
22.  Michael Schumacher Mercedes
23. Timo Glock Marussia  
24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT  

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