SEVEN-TIME world champion Lewis Hamilton WILL take a five-place grid penalty in Sao Paolo.
The Brit’s car requires an engine change for this weekend’s Brazilian GP.
It makes his task of overhauling Max Verstappen’s 19 point lead in the standings even more challenging.
The penalty comes into force after the Sprint race, meaning he will start that in the place that he qualifies on Friday.
Qualifying is on Friday evening after Practice One, followed by Practice Two and the Sprint Race on Saturday night.
So the best possible place Hamilton can start from on Sunday’s race is fifth on the grid.
It’s the fifth time Hamilton has had an engine change this season – two over the three allowed swaps.
He previously changed his engine unit at the Turkish GP last month and eventually finished in fifth place.
But with predicting a Max Verstappen win even before the penalty Hamilton can’t afford to finish that low down and lose yet more ground on the Dutchman.
When asked on Thursday about a possible penalty Hamilton remained coy, saying: “I can’t really comment at the moment.
“I don’t think the engines have even arrived. As far as I am aware currently my engine is fine.
“I will find out obviously later on. We’ve not even done an engineering [meeting] yet.”
But now the engine change has been confirmed and the Brit will have to take a penalty.
It comes as a blow to the seven-time world champ with just four races left on the calendar.
Abu Dhabi hosts the season finale on December 12 after races in Brazil, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
But the title may well already be decided by the time the circuit touches down at Yas Marina.
