Sebastian Vettel has been hit with five-place grid penalty after his team elected to change his gearbox.

The German's Spanish Grand Prix weekend went from bad to worse this afternoon when Red Bull opted to change the gearbox on his car, thereby incurring a five place grid drop.

The move came shortly after the German ground to a halt at the start of Q3 having failed to post a time - which in itself meant he faced starting the race from the fifth row.

Initially unsure whether the problem was gearbox or software related the Austrian team subsequently confirmed that it was indeed a gearbox issue and that the unit would need to be replaced thus incurring the automatic penalty.

On Friday the German suffered an electrical problem in the opening session, having completed just four laps, and subsequently missed the second session as the team replaced the wiring loom on his car.

In an attempt to get his season back on track Red Bull took the unusual step of giving him a new chassis though it turned out that the chassis had previously used in pre-season testing, an episode that the world champion will have been trying hard to forget.

To compound the German's frustration, teammate Daniel Ricciardo qualified third, albeit over a second of pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton's time.

The penalty incurred today means that Vettel will now start from fifteenth on the grid.

Check out our Saturday gallery, here.

Chris Balfe