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Gabriel Bortoleto was handed a record Formula One grid penalty at the United States Grand Prix after a series of engine component rule breaches left him with an 80-place sanction, forcing him to start from the back of the grid. The FIA confirmed the penalties ahead of Saturday qualifying at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, where Bortoleto had already received a 20-place penalty for a fourth energy store and a fourth control electronics unit before additional changes added 60 more places to his total.

Those later changes included a fifth engine, turbocharger and exhaust, plus a fifth energy store and control electronics unit, a fourth MGU-K and a seventh power unit ancillary component. The previous Formula One grid-penalty record was Jenson Button’s 70-place penalty in 2015, and Bortoleto’s 80-place total was believed to be the biggest in the sport’s history.

The FIA also confirmed penalties for two other drivers. Franco Colapinto received a 10-place grid penalty after Alpine introduced a fourth control electronics unit, and Arvid Lindblad was given a five-place penalty after Racing Bulls fitted a sixth internal combustion engine of the season, exceeding the limit of four allowed. The Sunday race was scheduled for Oct. 25 at 3 p.m. local time.

Isack Hadjar described his second practice session at the United States Grand Prix in Austin as a “disaster” after Red Bull’s setup changes left his RB22 “completely gone” and “undriveable” on soft tires. He said the car felt acceptable on medium tires in FP1 and early in FP2, but front tire overheating and heavy degradation hurt the run, and the soft compound produced severe understeer. Hadjar said the car was actually slower on soft tires than on mediums, and he ended FP2 ninth, 0.931 seconds behind teammate Max Verstappen. Red Bull’s Pierre Wache said the team had gone in the wrong direction with Hadjar’s setup, noting that the bumps at Circuit of the Americas and the car’s low-speed performance were key issues. He also said rebalancing the car was harder than expected, especially on Hadjar’s side of the garage, while the team planned to review the balance before qualifying and try to recover before parc fermé conditions began.

Hadjar said he would work with the team overnight to restore the car’s balance, and the changes paid off in qualifying. He recovered to qualify third for Sunday’s race, with Verstappen the only driver ahead of him on the grid, and said the car “came alive” in Q3. Hadjar added that a strong tailwind hurt his first Q3 attempt, and that repeated track-limit violations erased his lap times and stopped him from completing a clean lap on soft tires in the morning.

Racing Bulls asked Liam Lawson not to complete a Q3 lap in United States Grand Prix qualifying so the team could protect Arvid Lindblad’s starting position and save tyres for Sunday’s race. Both drivers reached Q3, but Lindblad carried a five-place grid penalty for a new internal combustion engine, so the team chose to preserve his track position. Lawson said he wanted to run in Q3 but accepted the decision, and later called it “a shame.”

Lawson had reached Q3 with a Q2 lap that beat Pierre Gasly by 0.022 seconds. He qualified 10th without setting a lap time in Q3 and still stayed ahead of Gasly on the starting grid. Lindblad qualified ninth, which dropped to 14th after the penalty, and he said he was pleased with the session and would focus on overtaking in Sunday’s race.