Max To Start Second For Brazil Sprint

Bulls line-up in Brazil from P2 and P4 for tomorrow’s Sprint.

Max

Verstappen

will

start

tomorrow’s

Sprint

race

Interlagos

from

second

place

the

grid,

with

Sergio

Pérez

set

line

fourth,

directly

behind

his

teammate,

Lewis

Hamilton

went

quickest

qualifying

for

the

São

Paulo

Grand

Prix

and

his

Mercedes’

teammate

Valtteri

Bottas

finished

third.

Hamilton, who will take a five-place grid penalty for Sunday’s race after fitting a new ICE ahead of practice, topped all three sessions and though Max got close in the first run of Q3, just two tenths of a second shy of his title rival, he couldn’t find the pace necessary to overhaul the freshly powered Mercedes in the final runs and missed out on pole by over four tenths of a second.

Max Ready For Spint At Interlagos

Hamilton led the way in Q1, with the Mercedes driver working his way to a time of 1:08.733. That put him three-tenths clear of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and half a second ahead of Mercedes teammate Bottas. Max, meanwhile, was in P4 with a lap of 1:09.329, while Checo sat in P9 with a time of 1:09.537.

Max retreated to the garage and eventually went through in P6, but Checo was sent out on track again and his last flying lap of 1:09.172 boosted him to P4. That became fifth as Bottas jumped to P2 ahead of Sainz and Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc.

Eliminated at the end of the first segment were Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in P16, Williams’ Nicholas Latifi and George Russell, and the Haas pair of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.

Flying Lap On Softs In Brazil

In the second session, the Mercedes cars were the first on track, but Hamilton’s opening flying lap was deleted for a track limits infringement in turn four. That left the door open and Max stepped forward to take P1 with a lap of 1:08.567. Checo, though, was on used softs and his time of 1:09.131 left him in P6. Hamilton then went for a second run on the same set of tyres and took top spot with a lap of 1:08.386.

In the final runs of the second segment, Hamilton made another step forward to cement himself into first with a time of 1:08.068 and Bottas jumped to second. That put Max through to Q3 in P3, four tenths of a second off the lead Mercedes.

Behind them, Leclerc progressed in fourth place ahead of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly. Checo improved with a final flyer of 1:08.973 and that handed him sixth place ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris, Sainz, the second McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso.

There was no way through though for Alpine’s Esteban Ocon who was edged out by teammate Alonso by just five-hundredths of a second. Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel exited in P12 ahead of AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, and the Alfa Romeo’s of Kimi Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi.

Primed For Sprint In São Paulo

In the first runs of Q3, Hamilton again led the way with a lap of 1:08.107, though Max edged closer, getting to a little over two tenths of a second off the Mercedes driver. Bottas slotted into third, a tenth back on the Dutchman with Checo in fourth place.

Max pushed hard to get closer still and though he went quicker in the middle sector he couldn’t find more time at the beginning or end of the lap and failed to improve overall. Hamilton, meanwhile, was finding time, and the seven-time champion crossed the line in a time of 1:07.934 to take P1 for the sprint.

Checo found a significant improvement on his final run but his 1:08.483 was just over a tenth of a second slower than Bottas’ final flyer and the Mexican was forced to settle for P4.

Behind the top four, Pierre Gasly claimed fifth place ahead of the Ferrari’s of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc. McLaren’s Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo were eighth and ninth respectively and 10th place was claimed by Alpine’s Fernando Alonso.

São Paulo Grand Prix 2021: Qualifying

Max Finishes P2 In Quali At Interlagos

Keeping It Close To The Kerbs

Checo Poised For Quali Session

Max Out On Softs In Quali

Taking In The Sights At Interlagos

Full Charge On Flying Lap

What

Max

Said

Unique Helmet Design For Interlagos

I’m happy to be second, that’s a good position to start from in tomorrow’s sprint race.

“I’m happy to be second, that’s a good position to start from in tomorrow’s sprint race. I always want to be closer but sometimes you have to be realistic. Mercedes have taken a new engine so naturally they have more power this weekend, so for me it’s not a big shock that they are ahead. There are not many points to gain tomorrow in the sprint race, so I hope we have a good start and we’ll see what happens from there. Of course, the most important race is on Sunday and I think it’s going to be a lot warmer which will change the behaviour of the car as well, so we’ll see.”

What

Checo

Said

Checo Strapped In For Quali Session

“It was a bit tricky today, especially in Q1 having to use two sets of tyres, so we started on the wrong foot in qualifying, but we were progressing well and gaining into Q3. Then I think the track cooled down a bit and we didn’t read the conditions as well as we could have. We got it together for our final lap and we only lacked half a tenth or so to be further ahead. That said, fourth is a strong position to start the sprint race from. I think Mercedes’ new engine seems to be working pretty well, Lewis was untouchable today, but we will see tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow we can have a good sprint race because the car has shown some good pace and I think it should be looking good.”

What

Christian

Horner

Said

Christian Happy With Quali Session

“I think the new Mercedes engine has definitely given them some extra horsepower so I think second was the best that we could have hope for. To be on the front row tomorrow, we can be happy with that. So much can happen in these sprint races, as we’ve seen this season, so you’ve just got to go for it at the start, then see where you are. I think we’ve got a good race car and it’s going to get hotter throughout the weekend so that will also be a factor here, it’s been pretty cool on track today so let’s see in the race tomorrow.”

São

Paulo

Grand

Prix

Qualifying

Top

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Lewis Hamilton	Max Verstappen	Valtteri Bottas	Sergio Pérez	Pierre Gasly	Carlos Sainz	Charles Leclerc	Lando Norris	Daniel Ricciardo	Fernando Alonso
Mercedes	Red Bull Racing Honda	Mercedes	Red Bull Racing Honda	AlphaTauri	Ferrari	Ferrari	McLaren	McLaren	Alpine
1.07.934	1.08.372	1.08.469	1.08.483	1.08.777	1.08.826	1.08.960	1.08.980	1.09.039	1.09.113