São Paulo Grand Prix: Confirmed sprint starting grid with penalties applied
Lewis Hamilton now starts at the back of the grid
Lewis Hamilton faces a tough battle in the final F1 sprint of the season after being disqualified from qualifying at the São Paulo Grand Prix and relegated to the back of the grid.
Hamilton started the weekend facing a five-place grid drop for Sunday's grand prix, with the disqualification for his car failing a technical inspection through a DRS infringement compounding his misery.
Red Bull had been expected to head the way in the buildup to the Brazillian weekend and although Verstappen now starts from the front, he trailed Hamilton by 0.438secs in the Friday session.
The Dutchman was also in hot water with the stewards following qualifying after being seen to touch the rear wing of Hamilton's Mercedes under parc fermé conditions for which he received a €50,000 fine.
With Hamilton at the back, team-mate Valtteri Bottas is now promoted to the front row, with Sergio Perez and Pierre Gasly completing the second row at Interlagos.
In the constructors' championship fight for third, Ferrari continued its momentum with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc now fifth and sixth, directly ahead of McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo.
Alpine drivers Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon round out the top 10.
Towards the back of the order, Lance Stroll was a surprise Q1 casualty as Nicholas Latifi also out-qualified his Williams team-mate, George Russell, for the first time in a standard three-part qualifying.
Here is the full grid:
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