SAO PAULO: Max Verstappen was hit with a five-place grid penalty on Friday for the Brazilian Grand Prix as his world title defence suffered another bump in the road.

The Red Bull star was penalised for opting to take a new engine in his car. It is his sixth of the year, exceeding the limit of four.

The setback comes as his hopes of a fourth successive world title have been steadily dented by McLaren rival Lando Norris who is 47 points behind in the championship with four race weekends left this season.

Last week in Mexico, Verstappen was penalised 10 seconds twice on his way to sixth place after he was punished for his aggressive driving which twice saw him force Norris off the track.

On Friday, Norris topped the times for McLaren with a late fastest lap to beat Mercedes’ George Russell as Oliver Bearman, driving for Haas, made it three Britons on top in opening free practice.

Norris clocked a best lap in one minute and 10.610 seconds to outpace Russell by 0.181 with Bearman third, 0.191 adrift, ahead of Oscar Piastri in the second McLaren.

Verstappen was down in 15th in the second Red Bull, but had not pushed for a flying lap in the final minutes on soft tyres.

Alex Albon was fifth for Williams ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, winners of the last two races in Texas and Mexico, with Nico Hulkenberg eighth for Haas.

Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso was ninth for Aston Martin, having arrived back from treatment for a stomach bug in Europe early on Friday morning, and Pierre Gasly was 10th for Alpine.

Like Verstappen, seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes did not clock a flying lap having lapped on mediums for most of the session.

He wound up in 16th and Sergio Perez, in the second Red Bull, was 19th for similar reasons.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2024