Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel will pay a price for his first race finish of the Formula One season by losing five places on the Monaco Grand Prix starting grid this weekend because of an unscheduled gearbox change.

Vettel's Ferrari-powered team confirmed on Monday they would debut their new STR3 car in the Mediterranean principality, meaning a different gearbox for the 20-year-old German.

With gearboxes having to last four races in a row, and the new car having a completely different one to the 2007 model, that means a heavy penalty at a circuit where overtaking is extremely difficult.