Romain Grosjean, Carlos Sainz, and Nico Hulkenberg have all had penalties against them for various offenses ahead of the German Grand Prix race on Sunday.

Haas’ Romain Grosjean will drop 5-places down the grid after a gearbox replacement. The Frenchman had to replace his gearbox after Free Practice 3 after just a few laps running in the session. The team found that the problems he experienced could not be fixed and took the decision to change the gearbox. Grosjean will start from 20th position.

Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz was handed a 3-place grid penalty for impeding Williams’ Felipe Massa in qualifying. Sainz was on an out lap in Q2 when Massa had just begun his flying lap. Approaching Turn 2 Massa at full speed was compromised on his entry into the corner. Sainz did try to get out of the way by running on to the grass on the inside of Turn 2 but it was just a little to late as Massa had already turned in.

In addition to the 3-place grid drop Sainz also received 2-penalty points on his license. He’s got a grand total of 4 points this season.

After a tyre mix up, Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg was dropped 1-grid spot. Force India were summoned to the stewards for an alleged breach of Article 24.4 e) iv) of the FIA Sporting Regulations. Force India used a set of tyres on Hulkenberg’s car that they should have returned after FP3.

Article 24.4 e) iv) states that “Two further sets [of the softest compound] must be returned to the Supplier before the start of the qualifying practice session.”

“The team returned electronically the wrong set of tyres and used these during Q1,” said the FIA decision document about Hulkenberg’s penalty.

This is how the grid is shaping up following the penalties applied after qualifying.

Photo credit: Haas F1 Team