Sepang grid reshuffled: Hadjar drops to P8, Colapinto and Lindblad at the back
Three engine penalties have reshaped the starting grid at Sepang. Isack Hadjar, who qualified third, drops to eighth, while Franco Colapinto and Arvid Lindblad start from the last two places. The race was due to start at 16:00 KST (15:00 local) on Sunday, but heavy rain has delayed it.
The three penalties
According to RacingNews365 and Grande Premio, Hadjar takes a five-place drop for exceeding power unit component allocations, moving him from third to eighth. Colapinto qualified 15th; ten places for an engine allocation infringement plus five carried over for causing the Turn 1 collision in Baku make 15 in total, and he starts 21st. Lindblad qualified 16th but has accumulated a 30-place penalty from component changes, so he starts 22nd, at the back. RacingNews365 wrote that both Colapinto and Lindblad were sent to the back by engine penalties.
How the front of the grid shifts
In qualifying Max Verstappen took his first pole of the season with a 1:35.130, 0.298s clear of Lewis Hamilton in second. With Hadjar out of the way, Kimi Antonelli moves up to third and Charles Leclerc to fourth. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are fifth and sixth, and George Russell gains one place from eighth to seventh. Pierre Gasly is ninth and Gabriel Bortoleto tenth.
| Grid | Driver | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Verstappen | Red Bull |
| 2 | Hamilton | Ferrari |
| 3 | Antonelli | Mercedes |
| 4 | Leclerc | Ferrari |
| 5 | Norris | McLaren |
| 6 | Piastri | McLaren |
| 7 | Russell | Mercedes |
| 8 | Hadjar | Red Bull |
| 9 | Gasly | Alpine |
| 10 | Bortoleto | Audi |
| 21 | Colapinto | Alpine |
| 22 | Lindblad | Racing Bulls |
Caveats
RacingNews365 said the grid is provisional pending official FIA confirmation. Both outlets give Colapinto 15 places in total, but some describe Lindblad's penalty only as a back-of-the-grid start rather than a number, so the table lists only the positions on which the two outlets agree. Grid slots 11 to 20 were not confirmed in the sources we read and are left out.
The grid is not the only variable today. Heavy rain just before the start led Race Control to announce a delayed start, and a new start time has not been confirmed. The grid order is unchanged, but with intermediates a possibility, how the two cars at the back approach strategy is worth watching. No session result exists yet, so we make no predictions.