Every grid penalty for the 2026 São Paulo Grand Prix: Both Ferrari drivers, Verstappen and more
Five drivers will start Sunday’s São Paulo Grand Prix with a penalty attached, and two of them are already certain to begin from the back. Engine changes at Interlagos have reshaped the order before qualifying, with Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes and Cadillac all fitting fresh power units parts.
The FIA’s Technical Delegate’s Report, issued on Saturday 7th November, listed the latest component changes. Under the sporting regulations, the first time a driver exceeds his seasonal allocation of a component, he drops ten places. Each further excess part of the same type costs five.
Penalties stack when several parts change in one weekend, and anything above 15 places sends the driver to the back of the grid. They are applied once qualifying ends.
Hamilton’s penalty grows
Lewis Hamilton began the weekend with a 10-place penalty. Ferrari fitted a fifth internal combustion engine to his car, against an allowance of four per season. This was his first excess.
Final practice then went badly. Hamilton complained of vibrations from the new engine, and he came back out only to pull in again with smoke pouring from the rear of the car. He ended the session 12th fastest. Ferrari removed the power unit for checks and chose to replace the entire assembly. That pushed his total beyond the 15-place threshold and sent him to the back of the grid, after qualifying 11th.
Hamilton is making his 400th Grand Prix start, and he has been here before. In 2021, he started 10th in São Paulo after a five-place engine penalty and won the race. He finished second in Mexico City last week, 0.799 seconds behind Max Verstappen, so the pace is there.
Leclerc with 10 places
Charles Leclerc has a 10-place penalty for the same reason Hamilton first had one. Ferrari fitted a fifth engine to his car, and it was his first excess. The Monégasque driver will start 14th after qualifying fourth.
Some had expected Ferrari to spread the changes across this race and the next, lowering the chances of the two starting side by side. That has not happened, and the penalties arrived days after Hamilton and Leclerc held clear-the-air talks with Team Principal Fred Vasseur on Thursday evening.
Their first-lap clash at the Mexico City Grand Prix had damaged both of their chances of winning.
Verstappen and Pérez join him at the back
Verstappen carries the heaviest component-based sanction. After problems emerged following Friday practice, Red Bull fitted a fifth engine, a fifth turbocharger and a fifth exhaust set to his car.
Each part is a first excess in its category, so each costs ten places. The 30-place total is far beyond the 15-place threshold. A new ancillary component also went on the car, but it sits within the allowance and adds nothing.
Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies confirmed the penalty before final practice and sounded unbothered. “He’s done a few miracles in the past starting from the back here,” he said.
Verstappen won in the wet at Interlagos in 2024 from 17th on the grid, then came from the pit lane to finish third last year. He topped final practice on Saturday morning, ahead of Kimi Antonelli, and he has risen to second in the standings after winning three of the last four races. After qualifying 16th, Verstappen will take to the back of the grid for this race.
His former teammate Sergio Pérez joins him, after Cadillac fitted a fifth engine and a fifth turbocharger to his car, then a fourth MGU-K against an allocation of three. That makes three first infringements and another cumulative 30-place penalty.
His new ancillary part was within the allowance, as it was for Verstappen. Between them, Hamilton, Verstappen and Pérez will fill the last three places on the 22-car grid.
Russell’s smaller drop
George Russell’s penalty is only five places, and it was the first confirmed of the weekend, on Friday 6th November. Mercedes fitted a sixth engine to his car. He had already exceeded the four-engine allowance earlier in the season, so this counts as a further excess rather than a first, which carries the lower tier.
A new ancillary component for Russell also stays within the allowance.
Antonelli, crowned world champion in Mexico City on 1st November, is not among the five penalised drivers. That helps Mercedes in the Constructors’ Championship. The team will win it on Sunday if they outscore their rivals by three points or more, and Ferrari’s penalties make that easier.
Sunday’s picture
The penalties land on exactly the drivers fighting for second in the Drivers’ Championship. Verstappen, Hamilton, Russell and Leclerc are covered by 16 points with four races left.
All four will start Sunday with ground to make up. Rain is forecast, which could scramble the order further.
Interlagos has already rewarded drivers who started from the lower end of the grid, and three of them will try to repeat it on Sunday.
Edited by Meghana Sree
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