Mercedes rules out Vettel clash as Hamilton F1 gearbox change cause

Hamilton is expected to serve a five-place grid penalty in this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix, after Mercedes replaced his gearbox.

The team found damage to the unit in checks after the Azerbaijan GP, and earlier this week decided that it would change the gearbox rather than risk it failing.

Vettel ran into the back of Hamilton during a second safety car period in Baku a fortnight ago before driving into the side of the Mercedes driver, for which he received a 10-second stop/go penalty.

His front wing was damaged during the low-speed initial collision, although his Ferrari team was able to replace it during a subsequent red flag period.

Hamilton's floor was also damaged, which necessitated urgent repairs during the red flag stoppage - although his aerodynamics were affected for the remainder of the race - while Mercedes later found damage to the gearbox during factory analysis of the car.

That led to suggestions that the issue could have been a consequence of the clash, but Mercedes suspects the gearbox would have failed at the time had the damage been cause by Vettel's impact.

When asked about the idea of the damage having been caused by Vettel's hit, a Mercedes spokesman said: "We can rule this out."