Engine penalties in Austin: Bortoleto to the back, Colapinto and Lindblad drop places
Three drivers will start further back at the United States Grand Prix: Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto takes a 20-place drop, Franco Colapinto ten places and Arvid Lindblad five.
Archive image · Photo: Liauzh / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (cropped and resized)
The stewards in Austin issued three grid penalties for additional power unit components on Friday. Gabriel Bortoleto is hit hardest: according to Formula1.com, Audi fitted the Brazilian with his fourth energy store and fourth control electronics unit of the season, both over the allocation. That adds up to 20 places. As any penalty of more than 15 places means starting from the back, Bortoleto is likely to line up last. A new combustion engine and turbocharger, also fitted, were within the allocation.
Alpine's Franco Colapinto drops ten places after taking his fourth control electronics unit. Racing Bulls driver Arvid Lindblad gets a five-place penalty for his sixth internal combustion engine against an allocation of four. As GrandPrix.com points out, these are penalties for using additional components, not for driving infringements. The final grid depends on qualifying.
Bortoleto was still pleased with Audi's upgrade in practice. "Knowing we'll have a grid penalty puts us in a slightly different position," he told Formula1.com. He was 11th in FP2. Colapinto said "we will give it our all tomorrow to start as high up as possible".