Grosjean hit with 5-place grid penalty

Romain Grosjean will drop five places on the grid for next weekend's German Grand Prix, with his Lotus squad forced to make a gearbox change. The Frenchman was hit with the technical gremlin on the final lap of last Sunday's race at Silverstone, but he was able to cross the line directly behind team-mate Kimi Raikkonen in sixth place.

"It was a gearbox problem and we are very fortunate that Romain didn’t have the problem earlier in the race," said Lotus Technical Director James Allison.

"Unfortunately for Romain it means he’ll take a five place grid penalty at Hockenheim, but he certainly showed at Silverstone that dropping down the order won’t stop him challenging at the sharp end."