F1: Massa Takes Gearbox Penalty To Promote Alonso

Formula 1

F1: Massa Takes Gearbox Penalty To Promote Alonso

Felipe Massa will start five places back....

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted November 18, 2012 Austin, TX

Felipe Massa of Brazil and team Scuderia Ferrari during the first practice session for the United States Formula One Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas. (Photo: Getty Images)

In a clever piece of gamesmanship Felipe Massa is set to get a five-place grid penalty in Austin after Ferrari broke the seal on his gearbox.

It means that Fernando Alonso moves up from eighth to seventh on the grid, which not only gains him a place but puts him onto the clean side of the grid.

The team has just broken the seal, and not changed the gearbox.

The top 10 are now:
Sebastian Vettel
Lewis Hamilton
Mark Webber
Kimi Raikkonen
Michael Schumacher
Nico Hulkenberg
Fernando Alonso
Romain Grosjean
Pastor Maldonado
Bruno Senna

Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.