Lewis Hamilton took an unlikely pole for the third sprint race. Max Verstappen has whet fans appetites with a solid 2nd place, ahead of Bottas and Perez.
Q1
With 10 minutes before the session got underway, mechanics were crowding around Perez’s car, making last minute adjustments. Perez was able to make it out with 11 minutes to go, but it was not the most confident of starts for the Mexican.
Hamilton took the initial fastest time, a stunning 0.5s ahead of Verstappen. It was predicted that Red Bull were still leaving something on the table. However, this was unprecedented considering that this track is meant to favour Verstappen.
Sainz popped into 2nd with a strong lap, while his team-mate Leclerc was penalised for track limits and was occupying the bottom spot with 4 minutes to go. He would rectify this, filing into 3rd late into the session.
Russell did not look confident with his car, the British driver was unable to make it out of Q1. But Latifi managed to just edge infront, making it the first time that Russell has been outqualified in conventional qualifying by a Williams team-mate. Stroll was relegated to 16th very late in the session, while Schumacher and Mazepin rounded out the grid.
Eliminated:
- 16th Stroll
- 17th Latifi
- 18th Russell
- 19th Schumacher
- 20th Mazepin
Q2
Hamilton took the fastest time, but his laptime was deleted after a track extending incident. Verstappen took the place with a return to form, his lap 0.1s faster than Hamilton’s illegal time. But, Hamilton snatched the place back by just 0.1s.
The 2nd drivers of the championship teams have added importance after Red Bull closed to 1 point of Mercedes. Bottas appeared to have good pace to take 3rd, while Perez wasn’t able to break into the top 6.
Tsunoda was unable to make it 3 consecutive Q3 appearances, finishing 13th. Alonso just survived, knocking out team-mate Ocon in the process. Norris just escaped, but the McLaren was not looking strong. Vettel had another Q2 knock-out, having to settle for 12th. The last two eliminated were Raikkonen and Giovinazzi, in that order.
Eliminated:
- 11th Ocon
- 12th Vettel
- 13th Tsunoda
- 14th Raikkonen
- 15th Giovinazzi
Q3
The initial runs left a tantalising prospect. Hamilton took porvisional pole, while Verstappen took 2nd, 0.2s behind. Bottas lined up 3rd, ahead of Perez in 4th by 0.4s.
As the last runs took place, a few drivers struggled. Hamilton improved his time at the top by 0.2s. Behind, Verstappen was just able to keep 2nd, failing to improve on his last lap. Bottas finished ahead of Perez, who had a strong recovery from the earlier sessions.
Gasly took yet another strong result with 5th, ahead of both Ferraris. Norris and Ricciardo lined up behind, damaging their bid for 3rd. Alonso rounds out the top 10.
Results
- Hamilton
- Verstappen
- Bottas
- Perez
- Gasly
- Sainz
- Leclerc
- Norris
- Ricciardo
- Alonso
Tomorrow could be a huge result in the championship, with Hamilton taking a 5 place penalty, he’ll want to take away any points he can from Verstappen. With the track being as good for battling as it is, there could be fireworks in Brazil.
Featured Imager Credit: @F1 Official Twitter
