Virgin drivers get five-place grid penalties

[John S]

I can't see that this will have any effect on the Virgin cars they nearly always start on the last couple of rows anyway. Now if they made them start on the front row of the GP2 race instead we might at least find out if the car can outrun the junior class     

By Jonathan Noble Autosport.com, Today

Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi will both be given five-place grid penalties at the Spanish Grand Prix after their Virgin Racing team failed to notify the FIA about its intended gear ratios in time.

F1 teams are supposed to notify the FIA's technical delegate about the gear ratios that the team will be using for the rest of the weekend within two hours of the end of Friday's free practice session.

Virgin Racing failed to do that, which is a breach of the sport's technical regulations.

The race stewards issued a statement on Saturday morning stating that both Glock and di Grassi would be handed five place grid penalties.

[Dare]

you mean they have to start 29th and 30th

[Jericoke]

Perhaps the rules can be revised to make the lost places cumulative... that is if Virgin can only drop 4 places, then the next race they have to take the remaining single place.