Following the decision to change his entire power unit, Race Stewards in Austin have confirmed that Sebastian Vettel will start from the pitlane.

Whilst changing individual components each results in a ten-place grid penalty, Red Bull has hit the jackpot by opting to change the entire power unit on the world champion's car.

Consequently, today, following a week of speculation, Race Stewards have confirmed that the German will start the United States Grand Prix from the pitlane.

"The 6th complete power unit has been used by car 1 (Vettel)," said the Stewards in a statement. "This is in breach of Article 28.4 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations.

"The requirement to start the race from the pit lane is imposed in accordance with Article 28.4 c)," the statement continued. "The team notified the Technical Delegate of the change to the power unit elements on Monday 27th October at 17:41."

In a bid to save his engine for the three remaining races, it has been widely speculated that Vettel would opt to miss the qualifying session however, still smarting from the depleted grid following the4 demise of Marussia and Caterham, Bernie Ecclestone is understood to have had words with the German and his team. sure enough, talking at the end of today's second practice session, team boss Christian Horner suggested that Vettel will at least take part in Q1.

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