New Zealand's Brendon Hartley will start third-last on the grid at the Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo after he incurred a grid penalty in qualifying.

Hartley was 15th-fastest in Q1 but the 10-place penalty -- for engine changes -- meant he will be 18th on the grid for Sunday's start at Interlagos.

The frontrunner will be Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas while teammate Lewis Hamilton, who has already wrapped up the 2017 championship, will start 20th and last after crashing out in Q1.

Hamilton set a track record of 1min 09.202sec in Friday's first practice session.

Toro Rosso driver Hartley, 28, set a time of 1:10.625 in Q1 but didn't record a time in Q2 so he could save his tyres and practise his starts. He didn't risk his car in Q3.

Teammate Pierre Gasly will start behind Hartley after he incurred a 25-spot grid penalty

"It's not bad, I'm happy enough to have gone to Q2," Hartley said.

"We chose not to go out to record a time to save all the tyres and keep open every possible option for tomorrow's race, so we just took advantage of the Q2 to do a couple of starting trials.

"I needed it, considering that my first two starts in F1 were not the best."

Hartley made his debut at the US Grand Prix in Texas last month, where he qualified 18th fastest and finished 13th in the race.

At the subsequent Mexico Grand Prix, Hartley was 13th in qualifying but failed to finish the race due to engine failure.

- NZ Newswire