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F1 Grand Prix qualifying results: Hamilton takes sprint pole in Brazil

Lewis Hamilton will start Saturday’s Brazilian Grand Prix sprint event on pole position after qualifying at Interlagos on Friday for the 19th round of the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12

Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Hamilton will start the sprint qualifying stanza ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen and his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas after the one-hour qualifying session, which is split into three segments with five cars each being knocked out in Q1 and Q2 before the top-10 shootout of Q3.

The result of Saturday’s sprint race sets the grid for Sunday’s main event. The winner of the sprint will be awarded with the event’s pole position accolade. Hamilton will take a five-place penalty in Sunday's Grand Prix following an engine change.

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Brazilian Grand Prix qualifying results: Hamilton on pole from Verstappen

Cla Driver Chassis Time Gap km/h
1 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1'07.934   228.345
2 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull 1'08.372 0.438 226.882
3 Finland Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1'08.469 0.535 226.560
4 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull 1'08.483 0.549 226.514
5 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1'08.777 0.843 225.546
6 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr Ferrari 1'08.826 0.892 225.385
7 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1'08.960 1.026 224.947
8 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren 1'08.980 1.046 224.882
9 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1'09.039 1.105 224.690
10 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine 1'09.113 1.179 224.449
11 France Esteban Ocon Alpine 1'09.189 1.255 224.203
12 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1'09.399 1.465 223.524
13 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1'09.483 1.549 223.254
14 Finland Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 1'09.503 1.569 223.190
15 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 1'10.227 2.293 220.889
16 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1'09.663 1.729 222.677
17 Canada Nicholas Latifi Williams 1'09.897 1.963 221.932
18 United Kingdom George Russell Williams 1'09.953 2.019 221.754
19 Germany Mick Schumacher Haas 1'10.329 2.395 220.569
20 Russian Federation Nikita Mazepin Haas 1'10.589 2.655 219.756

What happened in Q1?

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr set the benchmark at 1m10.487, which was quickly beaten by AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly on 1m10.062s.

Verstappen unleashed a lap of 1m09.329s to go fastest, two tenths clear of McLaren’s Lando Norris, before Hamilton reset the bar at 1m08.824s. That was half a second clear of Verstappen, with Bottas jumping to third, just 0.05s off Verstappen.

Gasly then pipped Bottas, while Sainz went to P2, 0.222s off Hamilton’s best. Hamilton trimmed his time down to 1m08.733s with 5 minutes remaining, while Bottas improved to P2 as the chequered flag flew, albeit three tenths down, ahead of the Ferraris and Red Bulls.

Falling at the first hurdle were Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), the Williamses of Nicholas Latifi and George Russell (Latifi beating Russell in qualifying) and the Haases of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.

Brazilian Grand Prix Q1 results: Hamilton fastest from Bottas

Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval km/h
1 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 9 1'08.733     225.690
2 Finland Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 9 1'09.040 0.307 0.307 224.687
3 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr Ferrari 7 1'09.046 0.313 0.006 224.667
4 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 10 1'09.155 0.422 0.109 224.313
5 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull 10 1'09.172 0.439 0.017 224.258
6 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull 5 1'09.329 0.596 0.157 223.750
7 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 9 1'09.342 0.609 0.013 223.708
8 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 6 1'09.347 0.614 0.005 223.692
9 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 3 1'09.350 0.617 0.003 223.682
10 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren 10 1'09.365 0.632 0.015 223.634
11 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 10 1'09.374 0.641 0.009 223.605
12 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine 7 1'09.391 0.658 0.017 223.550
13 France Esteban Ocon Alpine 8 1'09.430 0.697 0.039 223.425
14 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 9 1'09.451 0.718 0.021 223.357
15 Finland Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 9 1'09.598 0.865 0.147 222.885
16 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin 9 1'09.663 0.930 0.065 222.677
17 Canada Nicholas Latifi Williams 9 1'09.897 1.164 0.234 221.932
18 United Kingdom George Russell Williams 10 1'09.953 1.220 0.056 221.754
19 Germany Mick Schumacher Haas 11 1'10.329 1.596 0.376 220.569
20 Russian Federation Nikita Mazepin Haas 10 1'10.589 1.856 0.260 219.756

What happened in Q2?

Hamilton set the initial pace at 1m08.659s but lost his time due to exceeding track limits, as Verstappen went quicker anyway on 1m08.567s. On his second lap on the same tyres, Hamilton went faster still with 1m08.386s, beating Verstappen by 0.181s.

On the final run, Hamilton improved his P1 time again to 1m08.068s, ahead of Bottas on 1m08.426s – three tenths down once again. Verstappen stayed third, 0.431s off the pace, but ahead of Leclerc, Gasly and Perez.

Knocked out at this point were Esteban Ocon (Alpine, just 0.052s off teammate Fernando Alonso), Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin), Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) and the Alfa Romeos of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi.

Brazilian Grand Prix Grand Prix Q2 results: Hamilton fastest from Bottas

Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval km/h
1 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 8 1'08.068     227.895
2 Finland Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 8 1'08.426 0.358 0.358 226.703
3 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull 6 1'08.499 0.431 0.073 226.461
4 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 6 1'08.859 0.791 0.360 225.277
5 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 6 1'08.903 0.835 0.044 225.133
6 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull 6 1'08.973 0.905 0.070 224.905
7 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren 6 1'09.030 0.962 0.057 224.719
8 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr Ferrari 6 1'09.031 0.963 0.001 224.716
9 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 6 1'09.093 1.025 0.062 224.514
10 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine 6 1'09.137 1.069 0.044 224.371
11 France Esteban Ocon Alpine 6 1'09.189 1.121 0.052 224.203
12 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 6 1'09.399 1.331 0.210 223.524
13 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 6 1'09.483 1.415 0.084 223.254
14 Finland Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 6 1'09.503 1.435 0.020 223.190
15 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 5 1'10.227 2.159 0.724 220.889

What happened in Q3?

On the first run, Hamilton set the pace at 1m08.107s, to which Verstappen responded with a 1m08.372s for P2, 0.265s slower, and complained his front tyres were overheating from Turn 8. Bottas was his usual three tenths down on Hamilton, in P3 ahead of Perez, Gasly and Sainz.

On the final run, Verstappen didn’t improve but Hamilton did – Lewis setting a 1m07.934s for the fastest time of the day, 0.438s up on his title rival. Bottas failed to beat Verstappen for a spot on the front row, and was over half a second slower than Hamilton, with Perez taking fourth, just 0.014s off the second Mercedes.

Gasly will start the sprint in fifth, ahead of Sainz, Leclerc, Norris, Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) and Alonso.

Brazilian Grand Prix Q3 results: Hamilton takes sprint pole

Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval km/h
1 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 6 1'07.934     228.345
2 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull 6 1'08.372 0.438 0.438 226.882
3 Finland Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 6 1'08.469 0.535 0.097 226.560
4 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull 6 1'08.483 0.549 0.014 226.514
5 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 6 1'08.777 0.843 0.294 225.546
6 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr Ferrari 6 1'08.826 0.892 0.049 225.385
7 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari 6 1'08.960 1.026 0.134 224.947
8 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren 6 1'08.980 1.046 0.020 224.882
9 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 6 1'09.039 1.105 0.059 224.690
10 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine 6 1'09.113 1.179 0.074 224.449

 

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