Pascal Wehrlein dominated qualifying in São Paulo and took pole position; however, the Porsche driver received a three-place grid penalty for wheelspin in the pit lane, dropping him to fourth on the starting grid.
The penalty promotes Jake Dennis to pole position, with Dan Ticktum moving up to second after losing to Wehrlein in the semi-finals.
Edoardo Mortara, who reached the semi-finals before being knocked out by Dennis, will now start third.
Wehrlein will line up in fourth place for Porsche but does now lead the championship after taking three points for pole position.
Nyck de Vries, who lost to Wehrlein in the quarter-finals, will start in fifth place ahead of Antonio Félix da Costa, who will start sixth after losing out to Dennis in his quarter-final.
Norman Nato will start in seventh after being eliminated by Ticktum, despite setting a 1:10.436.
Jean-Éric Vergne, who lost his quarter-final to Mortara, will start in eighth place.
Mitch Evans will start ninth for Jaguar after he missed out on the duels. Sébastien Buemi is just behind him in tenth for Envision Racing.
Nico Müller lines up 11th, followed by Taylor Barnard in 12th after he clipped the wall at the final corner. His DS Penske continued, but he lost enough time to miss the duels.
Reigning world champion Oliver Rowland endured a difficult session, failing to escape the group stage. Carrying a three-place grid penalty over from London last season means he will start 13th.
Pepe Martí lines up 14th in his first-ever qualifying session, ahead of Nick Cassidy in 15th.
Maximilian Günther starts 16th for DS Penske. Local hero Felipe Drugovich had been fastest in Group B before turning in too early at Turn 4 and hitting the wall.
The impact damaged his right-front suspension, brought out a red flag, and ended his session. He will start 17th.
Joel Eriksson will begin from 18th, while Lucas di Grassi did not rejoin after the red flag due to a driveshaft issue—the same problem that also affected Maloney. He starts 19th.
At the back is Zane Maloney in 20th, who also suffered a driveshaft issue.
