Lewis Hamilton beat rival Max Verstappen in qualifying to take pole position for sprint race ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix, although an engine change means the British driver is facing a five-place grid penalty on Sunday. (More Motorsport News)
Hamilton was more than 0.4 seconds ahead of his Red Bull rival in Friday바카라™s qualifying at Interlagos, having also set the fastest time in the morning바카라™s practice session. That means he바카라™ll start first in the sprint race on Saturday, which will determine the starting grid for Sunday바카라™s Grand Prix.
However, the decision by Mercedes to change the engine of his car means the British driver will not start higher than sixth in Sunday바카라™s race, even if he wins the sprint. Today was a really good qualifying session, I'm super happy with it,바카라ť Hamilton said.
바카라śWe바카라™ve got the penalty but we바카라™ll give it everything we바카라™ve got. It바카라™s not easy to follow, but I guess Max is starting on pole (Sunday) now so it바카라™s going to be very hard to catch him but I바카라™ll do my best to try and go through the field.바카라ť
The seven-time F1 champion trails Verstappen by 19 points in the standings with four races left in the season. It바카라™s the second time the Mercedes driver has exceeded the limit of three engines for the season, and the penalty will make it even harder to close the gap to Verstappen.
Hamilton could face another penalty as well, as organizers said stewards were investigating whether the DRS system on his car had violated regulations during qualifying. They said a decision will be announced Saturday morning.
Mercedes바카라™ Valtteri Bottas finished third in qualifying, 0.014 ahead of Red Bull바카라™s Sergio Perez, who was faster than him in the practice session a few hours earler. The Red Bulls had proven faster than the Mercedes cars in recent races but Verstappen said Hamilton바카라™s performance on Friday was 바카라śnot a big shock바카라ť after the engine change.
바카라śI am just happy to be second. That is a good position to start from,바카라ť he said. 바카라śYou always want to be closer, but sometimes you just have to be realistic.바카라ť Hamilton took a 10-place grid penalty for a new engine in Turkey. Bottas has faced similar problems, which has raised questions about the engine바카라™s reliability.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said Hamilton's engine was replaced because of degradation, adding it's an issue that 바카라śis going to continue until the end of the season.바카라ť 바카라śWe haven't yet realized why that is, but we are just seeing it creep down,바카라ť Wolff said.
The Brazilian GP will be the third event of the season with a qualifying sprint race on Saturday to determine Sunday's grid. The two previous sprint races were held in Silverstone and Monza. The weather could still play a role at Interlagos, with a thin drizzle falling in certain sectors of the track on Friday, but not enough to impact drivers' performances.
Rain certainly won't affect the mood in the stands at Interlagos either, with the crowd loudly cheering on the drivers during Friday's sessions. A total of 170,000 fans are expected during the three days of racing after last year바카라™s Grand Prix was canceled because of the pandemic. Health restrictions at sporting events in Brazil were removed on November 1.
