Vettel unlikely to need gearbox change

The German had begun a new gearbox cycle in Montreal, following his retirement from the Turkish Grand Prix, but he was forced to take things easy in the second half of the event as the team discovered a fault with his gearbox.

That problem, allied to the fact that team-mate Mark Webber had required a pre-race gearbox change that handed him a five-place grid penalty, prompted fears that Vettel could be compromised for this weekend's event in Valencia.

Early investigations of the gearbox by Red Bull Racing have, however, been encouraging - and although work is continuing on ensuring that there will be no risk of the gearbox failing this weekend, the team is hopeful that Vettel's unit will be given the all-clear.

Team principal Christian Horner told AUTOSPORT: "We are conducting final analysis, but it looks unlikely that there will be a gearbox change."

Webber's pre-race gearbox change in Canada was precautionary, with the team fearing there was a risk of a failure because metal fragments had been found in his gearbox oil - which is often an early-warning signal of potential problems.