Lewis Hamilton will receive a five place grid penalty for changing the engine at the Brazilian GP after Mercedes opted for the fifth V6 engine ahead of the rest of the season.
Hamilton took the fourth engine in Turkey, the first outside the allowed allocation of three engines per season, and then received ten penalty places, but for each subsequent engine he gets five penalty places so Hamilton will get five penalty places in Brazil.
It’s a big blow for Hamilton who ahead of the final four races of the season is 19 points behind Verstappen and Mercedes have just one point advantage over Red Bull.
In addition to Hamilton, a new drive power element was also taken by Leclerc who received the seventh example of the exhaust system, but he will not receive a penalty because driver can use up to eight exhaust systems per season.
Hamilton will get five places in Sunday’s race, not Saturday’s sprint qualifying race, so he’ll have a chance to start from the spot he deserves in Friday qualifying and compete for points in the sprint race (three points for the winner, two points for the runner-up and a point for the third-placed driver).
