FIA announce LATE demotion for F1 champion Max Verstappen at Brazilian Grand Prix

Max Verstappen,FIA,Red Bull,Belgium,2025 — Photo: © IMAGO

Brazilian Grand Prix

FIA announce LATE demotion for Max Verstappen at Brazilian Grand Prix

The FIA have confirmed Verstappen's demotion

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Sunday 9 November 2025 14:56

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The FIA have announced a late demotion for Max Verstappen at the Brazilian Grand Prix following a miserable qualifying for the F1 champion.

Verstappen was eliminated in Q1 after a poor showing for Red Bull on Saturday in Sao Paulo, with team-mate Yuki Tsunoda also unable to progress into Q2.

The four-time world champion qualified 16th and was left scratching his head after the session as to where Red Bull had suddenly lost performance, with a change back to their old floor in qualifying clearly not working.

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Ahead of Sunday’s Brazilian GP, Red Bull have elected to change Verstappen’s power unit and the set-up of his car, breaking parc ferme regulations which means a pit lane start for the Dutchman.

Parc ferme: Means 'closed park' in French, parc ferme is an area where cars are kept after qualifying to ensure they haven't been illegally modified before the race.

In a report from the FIA's technical delegate, it was confirmed that Verstappen will use a new internal combustion engine (ICE), turbocharger (TC), motor generator unit-heat (MGU-H), motor generator unit-kinetic (MGU-K), energy store (ES), control electronics (CE) and exhaust system (EX) for the Brazilian GP.

All the above power unit element changes were made under parc ferme conditions and changes were also made to the set-up of Verstappen's suspension without the approval of the FIA's technical delegate.

Therefore, Verstappen will be required to start from the pit lane as the changes are referred to the FIA's stewards.

Haas star Esteban Ocon also fitted a new ICE during parc ferme conditions and will be expected to make a pit lane start.

Verstappen to start from pit lane at Brazilian GP

Speaking to the media after qualifying on Saturday, Verstappen waved goodbye to his championship hopes, and said: “I can forget about that.

“Where we are starting, that is not going to work. And with these kind of performances, I mean, forget about it.”

Verstappen further elaborated on the lack of performance in his RB21, and continued: “It's just no grip.

“Changed a few things on the car and it didn't work, so that's something that we need to figure out.

“Nothing really seems to work. We change a lot on the car and, yeah, we just don't understand.

“Something is clearly just not working for us. Even with the changes on the set-up, normally you would feel some kind of reaction, but it doesn't. So, yeah, something is just really off.”

Despite Verstappen’s despondent remarks, Red Bull's parc ferme changes will hopefully aid the champion's comeback through the field during Sunday’s grand prix in a bid to salvage his title chances.

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F1 Red Bull Max Verstappen FIA Brazilian Grand Prix