Bottas will be penalized by five places on the grid for the gearbox replacement

Valtteri Bottas will be penalized five places on the grid at the British Grand Prix due to an unscheduled gearbox replacement, a week after teammate Lewis Hamilton suffered the same fate, the Mercedes team has announced.

Bottas, who topped both Friday's tests at Silverstone, will have a new unit for the rest of the weekend after technicians detected damage to the unit.

Mercedes explained that the issue was similar to the one that led Hamilton to replace his gearbox at the previous Grand Prix in Austria.

Under current Formula 1 rules, drivers must use one gearbox for six consecutive events, although they are allowed to use a new gearbox if they retire from the previous race.

“Valtteri's gearbox was damaged in the same way as Lewis's, but less severely,” a Mercedes spokesperson said.

“However, we have not been able to continue with this unit.”

On whether future gearbox problems are expected by the team, the spokesperson added: "The cause of the damage is now behind us, just like with Lewis' problem."

Bottas will therefore give up five places on the grid.