BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — Seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton will start the Azerbaijan Grand Prix from the pit lane after changing his engine and other key parts following qualifying.
Hamilton had been due to start Sunday's race seventh before Mercedes installed a fifth engine of the season, above Hamilton's allowance, along with a new turbocharger and both components of the hybrid power system.
Hamilton's demotion raises title challenger Lando Norris to 15th on the grid as the McLaren driver seeks to make up ground to standings leader Max Verstappen of Red Bull, who starts sixth.
Norris initially qualified 17th but gained a place earlier when Pierre Gasly was disqualified because his Alpine car broke fuel flow rules.
The other Alpine driver, Esteban Ocon, will also start from the pit lane after replacing his engine and other parts. Ocon had placed last in qualifying.
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Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain in action during a Formula One Grand Prix qualifying in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain makes a pit stop during the Formula One Grand Prix qualifying in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (Ali Haideric/Pool via AP)
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain walks in the paddock at the Baku circuit, in Baku, Azerbaijan, Thursday, Sept.12, 2024. The Formula One Grand Prix will be held on Sunday. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
LISBON, Portugal (AP) — More than 100 wildfires stretched thousands of firefighters to the limit in northern Portugal on Wednesday, with seven deaths since the worst spate of fires in recent years spread out of control over the weekend.
Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro declared a state of calamity for the hardest-hit areas late on Tuesday, invoking powers to mobilize more firefighters and civil servants. He also called on police investigators to redouble their efforts to find those who started the fires and pledged help for those who have lost their homes or have been evacuated.
“We are well aware that these difficult hours are not over yet,” Montenegro told the nation in a televised address. “We have to continue to give everything we have and ask for help from our partners and friends so that we can reinforce the protection of our people and property.”
The European Copernicus satellite service said that over 15,000 hectares (37,000 acres) had been scorched and a combined 13 kilometers (8 miles) of fire fronts had been detected as on Tuesday night. It added that an area home to 210,000 people was exposed to the fire risk.
The hot, dry conditions behind the outbreaks in Portugal coincided this week with flooding in central Europe. The European Union said Wednesday that the juxtaposed extreme weather phenomena are proof of a “climate breakdown. ”
Fellow European Union members Spain, France, Italy and Greece have committed two water-dropping aircraft each to help Portuguese firefighters.
Spain’s military is also sending 240 soldiers and vehicles from its emergency response battalions specialized in combating fires to its neighbor.
Thick grey smoke and the smell of burnt wood reached some 85 kilometers across the border into northwest Spain.
Montenegro made a special call for security forces to pursue both arsonists and any individuals who started a fire out of negligence. Portuguese national police said that they have arrested seven men suspected of having started wildfires in recent days. Authorities have prohibited the use of heavy farming equipment to reduce the risk of inadvertently starting a blaze.
Among the hardest hit areas is the district of Aveiro, south of the northern city of Porto, but several major blazes were also raging out of control in other wooded areas.
Authorities have yet to release figures for property damage or the number of evacuees, but Portuguese state broadcaster RTP has shown charred houses in rural villages and local residents trying to battle flames with buckets of water, hoses, and even large tree branches. Other televised images showed visibility reduced to a few meters as orange smoke enveloped the terrain.
Three firefighters died in their vehicle on Tuesday, while another had succumbed to what authorities called a “sudden illness” while on duty over the weekend. Three civilians have also perished, according to civil protection authorities.
Portugal was devasted by massive fires in 2017 that killed over 120 people.
Experts link the fires to both climate change and the abandonment of traditional farming and forestry professions that helped keep rural areas clear of underbrush that is now fuel for fires.
Joseph Wilson wrote from Barcelona, Spain. Teresa Medrano contributed from Pontevedra, Spain.
Clouds of smoke drift with the strong wind as fires rage on the hills around Sever do Vouga, a town in northern Portugal that has been surrounded by forest fires, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruno Fonseca)
A fire burns on a hillside near Sever do Vouga, a town in northern Portugal that has been surrounded by forest fires, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruno Fonseca)
Fires rage on the hills around Sever do Vouga, a town in northern Portugal that has been surrounded by forest fires, Tuesday night, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruno Fonseca)
A fire rages on the hills around Sever do Vouga, a town in northern Portugal that has been surrounded by forest fires, Tuesday night, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruno Fonseca)
Wildfire advances near Sever do Vouga, a town in northern Portugal that has been surrounded by forest fires, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruno Fonseca)
A woman tries to extinguish the flames near Sever do Vouga, a town in northern Portugal that has been surrounded by forest fires, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruno Fonseca)
Firefighters work to control a fire next to warehouses in Sever do Vouga, a town in northern Portugal that has been surrounded by wildfires fires, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruno Fonseca)
A car drives past a road closed by police as a wildfire burns close to it, near Sever do Vouga, a town in northern Portugal that has been surrounded by forest fires, Monday night, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruno Fonseca)
Vehicles drive past a fire burning by the road near Sever do Vouga, a town in northern Portugal that has been surrounded by forest fires, Monday night, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruno Fonseca)
