The advantage Lando Norris gained at the Brazilian Grand Prix as title rival Max Verstappen was handed a 5-place grid penalty. The reason is…

Max Verstappen faced a five-place grid penalty for the Brazilian Grand Prix on Friday as his world title defense suffered another setback. The Red Bull star was punished for choosing to get a new engine in his car. This is his sixth year of the year surpassing the mark of four. The blow comes as his hopes of a fourth consecutive world title have been dealt a blow to McLaren rival Lando Norris, who trails him in the championship by 47 points with four race weekends remaining this season.

Last week in Mexico, Verstappen was given a 10-second time penalty twice while finishing sixth as he was penalized for his aggressive driving, in which he twice sent Norris off the track.

On Friday, Norris took top spot for McLaren with a late fastest lap and overtook Mercedes' George Russell, while Oliver Bearman, driving for Haas, topped the three Britons in early free practice.

Norris set a best lap of one minute and 10.610 seconds to overtake Russell by 0.181 seconds, while Bearman finished third, 0.191 behind Oscar Piastri in the second McLaren.

Verstappen was 15th in the second Red Bull, but did not push for a flying lap in the final minutes due to soft tyres.

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

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

Like Verstappen, Mercedes' seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton did not see a flying lap after lapping on mediums for most of the session.

He finished 16th and Sergio Pérez, in the other Red Bull, finished 19th for similar reasons.