Formula One heads to Malaysia this weekend for the rearranged Bahrain Grand Prix, with three drivers set to start the race with grid penalties.
Penalties confirmed for three drivers
Racing Bulls driver Arvid Lindblad will start at the back of the grid after having new power unit components attached. Isack Hadjar has also confirmed he will drop down the order, saying: "It's going to be difficult for me, I should be taking five places penalty, but even like that, I believe it's a track [where if] you have the race pace, you go up. If we can't, then that means we're not fast enough. So let’s see."
Franco Colapinto is the third driver serving a penalty. The Argentine caused a collision with team-mate Pierre Gasly and McLaren's Lando Norris in Baku and was given a 10-second time penalty, but his race was ended by the crash so he couldn't serve it. As such, the time penalty was converted into a five-place grid drop for his next race.
Sepang returns to the calendar
The original Bahrain GP was scheduled for the spring but had to be cancelled following escalating tensions in the Middle East. This upcoming weekend was meant to be empty on the Formula One calendar, but organisers used it as an opportunity to make up lost time from earlier in the season. As such, the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia will host a race for the first time since 2017.
Practice gets underway on Friday, with qualifying on Saturday and the race on Sunday.
Ferrari backs Vasseur
It is also set to be a big weekend for Ferrari, given the intense scrutiny surrounding Fred Vasseur's reign as team principal. The Scuderia released a statement backing Vasseur, with Lewis Hamilton responding: "I think it's good that they did it.
"In terms of how it unifies the team, I think we already were unified. Honestly, I think outside sources seem to be so negative towards us as a team and trying to break our spirit, but they're not succeeding.
"People can continue with the negative narrative but inside, everyone is working really hard. Fred is the guy to lead us, he's doing a fantastic job. If you look at the history, how many people they've swapped out in that role and I feel like it's in a better place than it's been before, but ultimately, it's not a one man situation.
"It's lots and lots of people coming together and if you want to point fingers, point them somewhere else. There's people above that are also part of it as well. It's a lot of people. I feel like we should take things away from this message, Fred's in his position, he's not going anywhere and I'm here to stay with him and I still believe fully in where we're going."
