Lewis Hamilton took pole position for Saturday’s sprint race in the Brazilian Grand Prix after he outpaced rival Max Verstappen in qualifying. However, the Briton will be subjected to a five-place grid penalty on Sunday after changing his engine power supply unit.

Hamilton piped his Red Bull rival by more than 0.4 seconds in Friday’s qualifying at Interlagos, having also set the fastest time in the morning’s practice session. That means he’ll start first in the sprint race on Saturday, which will determine the starting grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix.

Also Read | Every race is a must-win race: Lewis Hamilton ahead of Brazilian Grand Prix

However, the decision by Mercedes to change the engine of his car means the British driver will not start higher than sixth in Sunday’s race, even if he wins the sprint.

“Today was a really good qualifying session, I’m super happy with it,” Hamilton said, according to Associated Press. “We’ve got the penalty but we’ll give it everything we’ve got. It’s not easy to follow, but I guess Max is starting on pole (Sunday) now so it’s going to be very hard to catch him but I’ll do my best to try and go through the field.”

With four races remaining in the season, the seven-time Formula One champion is 19 points behind Verstappen in the standings.

Also Read | F1: Max Verstappen wins the Mexican Grand Prix, Sergio Perez seals home podium

It’s the Mercedes driver’s second violation of the season’s three-engine restriction, and the punishment will make closing the deficit to Verstappen much more difficult.

Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes finished third in qualifying, 0.014 seconds ahead of Sergio Perez of Red Bull, who had been quicker in the practice session just hours before.

The Red Bulls had proven faster than the Mercedes cars in recent races but Verstappen said Hamilton’s performance on Friday was “not a big shock” after the engine change.

Also Read | F1: Mercedes dampens Red Bull’s Qualis as Valtteri Bottas snatches Mexican GP pole

“I am just happy to be second. That is a good position to start from,” he said. “You always want to be closer, but sometimes you just have to be realistic.”

Hamilton took a 10-place grid penalty for a new engine in Turkey. Bottas has faced similar problems, which has raised questions about the engine’s reliability.

With inputs from the Associated Press