Max Verstappen Sao Paulo Grand Prix grid penalty, Digi Mart USA News (Sao Paulo): Max Verstappen will have to climb through the field at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix after Red Bull chose to serve an engine penalty at Interlagos. The Red Bull driver shared his thoughts on his prospects following Qualifying.
It was confirmed before Qualifying that Verstappen had accumulated 30 places’ worth of penalties for exceeding his season allocation of Internal Combustion Engine (ICE), Turbo Charger and Exhaust components. He joins both Ferrari drivers and Mercedes’ George Russell in taking penalties this weekend.
In Saturday’s session, Verstappen took part in Q1 and progressed to Q2 without running in that segment, finishing P16. His penalties drop him back to P21, second-to-last on the grid.
The session was delayed by heavy rain, and Verstappen managed the challenging conditions.
Speaking afterward, the four-time World Champion said the plan had simply been to record a lap. “I know that I have to start from the back, so we don’t want to take too much risk and [we] just put a lap on the board in Q1,” Verstappen said.
“And yeah, that’s what we did.”
Verstappen famously rose from P17 to victory during a rain-affected race in Sao Paulo in 2024. Asked about the reasoning behind taking his penalty at Interlagos, he said: “I mean, we saw an issue and we decided to take the penalty here.
“Maybe it’s the best place to take it, but who knows. We’ll see tomorrow how far we can move up to the front.
[We’ll] try and have a bit of fun out there.”
