Final: Starting grid GP Brazil | Mercedes on the front row
F1 News
- GPblog.com
The final sprint race of 2022 was full of action. Clashes between teammates, a disappointing performance from Red Bull and the first time this season that a Mercedes crossed the finish line first. See what the final starting grid for the Brazilian Grand Prix looks like below.
As was already known, Carlos Sainz has to take a five-place grid penalty. The Ferrari driver is using a new power unit. Sainz therefore drops back from second place to seventh. Good news for Red Bull, as this change means Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez occupy the second row of the grid and are better placed to fight the Mercedes on the front row.
It was already announced during the sprint race that the starting procedure would be investigated further. This appeared to involve a possible infringement by Lewis Hamilton, Zhou Guanyu and Daniel Ricciardo who, according to race control, were not correctly positioned in their starting boxes. However, it was determined all three drivers retain their starting positions.
Five-second penalty for Alonso
Fernando Alonso was not so lucky. The Spaniard was penalised after the race for his collision with teammate Esteban Ocon and receives a five-second time penalty. With that, the Alpine driver drops back from spot fifteen to spot eighteen and has only the Williams cars behind him. Next to him in seventeenth place, Ocon starts and it will be interesting to see whether the frustrations of the sprint race will have an impact on Sunday's start. Ocon's car caught fire after the end of the sprint race. All parts damaged in the process have since been repaired within FIA regulations. Ocon therefore does not have to take a penalty.
