Hulkenberg set for Baku F1 grid penalty

Nico Hulkenberg is set to receive a five-place grid penalty for this weekend's Azerbaijan Grand Prix after the Renault Formula 1 team was forced to change the gearbox on his car following practice on Saturday afternoon.

Hulkenberg entered the race weekend at the Baku City Circuit looking to extend his run of points finishes to start the season, but now faces a fight to do so as a result of the pending penalty.

The FIA confirmed in its post-FP3 technical report that Renault had changed the gearbox on Hulkenberg's car before the previous unit had completed the required six events, with confirmation of a grid penalty set to follow later today.

Speaking on Friday before news of his penalty had arrived, Hulkenberg set his sights on continuing his good qualifying form, having reached Q3 at each of the three opening rounds.

"I think I’ve just done a good job over the last couple of qualifyings. I enjoy that part of the race weekend," Hulkenberg said.

"It’s my personal challenge also to get the ultimate lap time each time from myself and the car. It’s fun and I just each time try to really execute it as well as I can. This year and the end of last year has been pretty good."

Hulkenberg finished seventh at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix before charging to P6 in both Bahrain and China.