Under the 2022 FIA sporting regulations there is no longer a penalty associated with a change of gearbox after the start of running on a Saturday.
Thus street/temporary tracks like Jeddah and indeed Melbourne, Monaco, Baku and Montreal – where it’s all too easy to heavily damage a car – are no longer such a tightrope walk for teams and drivers.
We no longer have to speculate about whether a heavy rear or side impact could trigger a gearbox change and thus a penalty, at least in the early part of the season.
Until last season drivers had to use a gearbox for six consecutive events, with an event defined as Saturday and Sunday only – on Fridays they could use a practice gearbox that was outside the main allocation.
What that meant was that a heavy impact in either FP3 or qualifying often led to a gearbox change for the race, and thus a five-place penalty.
The system has changed for this season, and there is now a pool of gearboxes that can be swapped around in…
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