Sao Paulo Grand Prix: Hamilton, Verstappen, Leclerc Face Grid Penalties

The Sao Paulo Grand Prix weekend will begin with the grid turned on its head, as Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc all head into Interlagos braced for hefty drops after fresh power unit changes.

Ferrari have pushed beyond their season allocation of Internal Combustion Engines on both Hamilton’s and Leclerc’s cars. The price is steep: 10-place grid penalties apiece. It’s a clear statement of intent from Maranello – take the pain now, bank the power for later – but it leaves their star pairing facing long Sunday afternoons.

Red Bull have gone even further with Verstappen. His car has taken new ICE, Turbo Charger and Exhaust components, tipping him over the permitted limit on all three. The combined sanction sends the reigning champion to the very back of the grid, regardless of where he qualifies.

The shake-up doesn’t stop there. 2026 entrants Cadillac, already flexing their influence in the paddock, have supplied Sergio Perez with a new Ferrari ICE, Turbo Charger and MGU-K. That move also triggers a grid drop for the Mexican, adding another twist to an already scrambled starting order.

The rules are ruthless but simple. The first time a driver exceeds the allocation of any power unit element, they collect a 10-place grid penalty. Every further breach of that same element brings a five-place drop, and the hits stack up across the weekend. Once the total climbs beyond 15 places, the system stops counting – the driver is automatically sent to the back of the field.

That’s where Verstappen now finds himself. Hamilton and Leclerc won’t fall quite as far, but they will slide down the order from their qualifying spots on Saturday, turning Sunday’s Grand Prix into a test of damage limitation, race craft and raw pace.

Hamilton knows this circuit offers a way back. In 2021 he was thrown to the back of the grid for the Sprint after a Drag Reduction System irregularity saw him disqualified from Friday qualifying. A further five-place penalty for an engine change dropped him again for the Grand Prix itself. He responded with one of the defining recovery drives of his career, slicing through the field across both races to win and ignite his title challenge.

Verstappen, too, has history with Sao Paulo fightbacks. In 2024 he started 17th after a chaotic qualifying session and an engine penalty, then surged through to victory. A year later, in 2025, Red Bull made sweeping changes to his car after another bruising qualifying. He was forced to start from the pit lane, yet still climbed to third by the flag.

Those memories will matter now. They tell every engineer and strategist on the grid that Interlagos rewards bold set-ups, aggressive tyre calls and drivers willing to commit around the outside of Turn 1 with their season on the line.

There is one more sting in the tail for Mercedes. George Russell has already confirmed he will take a five-place grid penalty of his own for an engine change, leaving the Silver Arrows with both cars compromised before a wheel has turned in anger.

So the script is set. Qualifying will decide pole, but some of the sport’s biggest names will be starting their real race from deep in the pack. At Interlagos, that usually means only one thing: chaos, overtakes, and champions forced to prove it all over again.