Lewis Hamilton has taken a new engine for the Brazilian GP, and will serve a five-place penalty for it, as reported by Formula Nerds.
Hamilton is set to take his fifth engine of the season. Only a maximum of three can be taken, and any more than that will warrant a penalty for each extra one.
The first engine he took over the limit was at the Turkish GP, where he switched his ICE and served a ten-place grid penalty. He fought from P11 and finished P5, and it might be déjà vu for him in Brazil. Only this time, it will be a five-place penalty.
Hamilton took a new engine for the Brazilian GP, and will look to make up places quickly and get a grand result at Interlagos.
Damage limitation
Mercedes making Hamilton serve the penalty in Brazil could prove to be a tactical masterstroke. This is because of the tweaked nature of the race weekend, with sprint qualifying joining the party.
The revised rules when sprint qualifying is present means that Hamilton will not have to serve his penalty after traditional qualifying. Instead, he will serve the penalty on Sunday after the sprint race. The penalty will not determine where he starts the sprint from.
It will come into effect once the sprint is done, and depending on where the seven-time world champion finishes, he will be demoted five places from there. Therefore, he can still maximise his sprint points, and will look to do so on Saturday.
The penalty has been speculated about for a long time, and it has finally been confirmed. Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko gave his thoughts on his team’s rival driver taking one, and said that they will look to take full advantage of Hamilton’s compromised position.
Hamilton will look to take pole position, win the sprint and use his superior engine to try and win the race.
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