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Valtteri Bottas will serve yet another grid penalty at the United States Grand Prix as he takes his sixth Mercedes Formula 1 engine of the season.
Mercedes has opted to give Bottas another new internal combustion engine, his fourth in only six grands prix.
Mercedes says Bottas’s engine change is “for the best balance of performance and reliability to end of season”.
As he has previously exceeded the limit of three ICEs per season, this is just a five-place grid penalty.
Team-mate Lewis Hamilton served a 10-place grid drop at the previous race in Turkey when he took on a new ICE because that was his first change that exceeded his seasonal allowance.
Mercedes has a known issue with its V6 that it has been trying to contain.
Related to that, customer teams Aston Martin and Williams have new power unit elements this weekend as well.
Sebastian Vettel and George Russell will start from the back of the grid because they are taking on multiple components.
They will have a new ICE, turbocharger and MGU-H respectively, all of which exceed their permitted allowances.
That carries a combined grid penalty of 20 places and anything more than 15 is an automatic back-of-the grid start.
Bottas, Vettel and Russell also have new exhaust systems but these are within their yearly allowances.
