Max Versteppen will have five places to make up during Sunday’s São Paulo Grand Prix.
Verstappen’s Red Bull Racing team needed to replace the internal combustion engine in his car ahead of the race weekend. The team is already at the maximum number of ICUs used in a season and the use of an extra ICE is a five-spot penalty. If Verstappen qualifies first on Saturday for Sunday’s race, he’ll start sixth.
The penalty is significant because of Verstappen’s lead in the driver’s championship. After he finished sixth in Mexico a week ago, Verstappen’s gap to Lando Norris is 47 points with four Grand Prix races and two sprint races to go. Norris finished second to Carlos Sainz in Mexico City.
Verstappen is still a heavy favorite to win the title; if Norris won each of the remaining six events and scored the fastest lap in all four Grand Prix races while Verstappen ran second to him, he’d only gain 34 points on Verstappen.
The ICE change became inevitable over the course of the Mexico race weekend as Verstappen’s car was considerably slower on the straightaways than other competitors. He finished sixth because of two 10-second penalties for driving Norris off the track, but would not have been in contention for the race win had he not been penalized.
Interlagos is a great place for an engine change, however. The track is favorable for overtaking thanks to its long front straightaway into Turn 1 and the combination of corners early in the lap. Lewis Hamilton famously drove to fifth from last in the sprint race in 2021 and then drove from 10th to first in the Grand Prix to beat Verstappen for the win.
