The Brazilian GP weekend at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace Interlagos delivered a fascinating back-of-the-grid scramble involving two world champions. Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen both faced monumental grid penalties that forced them to charge through the field from the very back. Intriguingly, even though the Scuderia Ferrari driver accumulated a far larger total penalty than his Red Bull Racing rival, he still secured a higher starting slot for Sunday's main race.
Ferrari's initial strategy only involved changing the internal combustion engine on the SF-26, a routine swap that would have cost him 10 grid places. However, an unexpected power unit issue emerged during the final practice session, prompting the Scuderia to fit the seven-time world champion with an entirely fresh engine assembly. That emergency change escalated his total sanction to an astonishing 75 grid places.
Meanwhile, the Dutch driver already understood before qualifying that damage limitation was the primary objective. He also took on new power unit components, resulting in a 30-place grid penalty. During the wet qualifying session, Hamilton fought his way to 11th, while Verstappen opted to sit out Q2 to preserve wet-weather tyres for the race, ultimately finishing down in 16th place as a result.
The exact sorting mechanism behind their starting positions comes down to specific sporting regulations regarding grid penalties. The rules draw a definitive line between penalties of 15 places or fewer and those exceeding that threshold. Drivers with minor penalties of 15 places or less are slotted onto the grid first. For instance, George Russell and Charles Leclerc experienced similar drops earlier in the field due to modest power unit component changes.
Once those adjustments and standard grid fillers are settled, Article B2.5.4.b.iv comes into play for drivers facing penalties exceeding 15 places. Every single driver in this heavy penalty bracket is sent straight to the back of the field. The final starting order among them is determined purely by their qualifying position, rendering the actual numerical value above 15 completely irrelevant. Because Hamilton qualified 11th and Verstappen 16th, the Ferrari star naturally claimed the higher grid slot.
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