Lindblad and Bortoleto face 10-place grid penalties at São Paulo GP

Summary

• Arvid Lindblad is set to use his seventh combustion engine and sixth turbocharger of the season.
• Gabriel Bortoleto is set to use his sixth energy store and sixth control electronics unit.
• Each driver faces a cumulative 10-place grid penalty under the sporting regulations. Their starting positions are subject to the FIA’s final grid.

The São Paulo Grand Prix grid is set to change again on race day after the FIA’s technical delegate reported that Arvid Lindblad and Gabriel Bortoleto had each taken two new power-unit components beyond their season allocations. Lindblad was listed 12th and Bortoleto 19th on the provisional grid, which was issued before the Sunday changes.

Racing Bulls replaced the internal combustion engine and turbocharger on Lindblad’s No. 41 car. Audi changed two parts of the hybrid system on Bortoleto’s No. 5, fitting a new energy store and a new control electronics unit. Both drivers had already exceeded their allowances for the components involved, so each new part carries a five-place drop under the repeat-use rule, for an expected 10 places per driver.

What did Racing Bulls and Audi replace?

The Sunday changes follow a difficult qualifying session for both drivers. Lindblad reached Q2 but was told to stop the car and ended the session 14th. Penalties elsewhere had moved him up two places on the provisional grid. His Racing Bulls teammate Liam Lawson, meanwhile, was provisionally third after qualifying fifth.

Bortoleto qualified 22nd after hitting the wall in Q1 during Saturday’s rain-disrupted qualifying. He had moved up to 19th on the provisional grid. The delegate’s report identifies the two replacement parts on his Audi and leaves the reason for the changes unspecified.

Why do the changes add up to 10 places each?

Article B8.2.8 applies the penalty separately to each type of component. The first unit used above its allocation costs 10 grid places. Each subsequent unit of the same type costs five, and the penalties are added together. The rule counts a component as used once the car’s timing transponder registers that it has left the pit lane.

The distinction matters because Lindblad and Bortoleto had already taken penalties for power-unit changes this season. In Austin, Lindblad took his sixth combustion engine, while Audi introduced both a fourth and a fifth energy store and control electronics unit on Bortoleto’s car over the course of the weekend. Sunday’s replacements at Interlagos bring the same rule back into play.

Does either driver have to start from the pit lane?

The technical delegate approved all four replacements under Article B3.5.4, which governs work on cars under parc fermé. That approval covers the installation itself. The separate season-allocation rules still apply when the new parts are used. The changes listed in the report therefore point to grid penalties, while a pit-lane start would require a separate basis.

The final order also depends on how Sunday’s changes are applied alongside the five power-unit penalties already reflected in the provisional grid. The FIA’s grid procedure accounts for all penalties together, so adding 10 to each driver’s provisional position would give the wrong picture.

Lando Norris is on pole alongside Andrea Kimi Antonelli for the São Paulo GP, scheduled to start at 14:00 local time on Sunday. That is 17:00 GMT and 12:00 ET.

GRANDE PRÊMIO is following every session of the São Paulo Grand Prix in Formula 1 live from Interlagos.

2026 São Paulo GP starting grid

GRANDE PRÊMIO is following every session of the São Paulo Grand Prix in Formula 1 live from Interlagos.