Max Verstappen dominates Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton to take Brazil pole

Brazilian GP

Verstappen dominates Ferrari, Hamilton to take Brazil pole

What an effort Max!

Matthew Scott

Saturday 16 November 2019 20:02 Updated: 20:07

Max Verstappen dominated qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix, taking his second pole position of the 2019 season.

Ferrari had looked to be back on-pace, although Charles Leclerc was facing a 10-place grid penalty. However, the red cars could not hold a candle to Verstappen.

Sebastian Vettel will join Verstappen on the front row, but Leclerc will drop to P14 thanks to a new engine.

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Lewis Hamilton managed to split the Ferrari duo on the timesheets in Q3, but Mercedes never looked to have the pace for pole.

In truth, Verstappen was in a league of his own, topping all three qualifying sessions to take the first Honda-powered pole at Interlagos since Ayrton Senna's in 1991.

The Dutchman will now hope for redemption after losing a near-certain win here in a collision with Esteban Ocon a year ago.

Valtteri Bottas and Alex Albon went fifth and sixth-fastest but never troubled the fight for pole, with Pierre Gasly continuing his recovery at Toro Rosso by taking seventh.

Kimi Raikkonen, ninth-fastest, is sandwiched by Haas duo Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen, who both made the top-10 shootout for the first time since the Spanish GP.

Q2

With Carlos Sainz already eliminated, and Lando Norris 11th, the door was open for Renault to maybe take advantage, but neither Daniel Ricciardo or 2010 pole-sitter Nico Hulkenberg could make the top-10 shootout. Antonio Giovinazzi went out after spinning on his final run, while Sergio Perez was also eliminated.

Q1

Sainz dropped out with an engine failure, while George Russell made it 20-0 for the season over Robert Kubica in qualifying. Lance Stroll and Daniil Kvyat also dropped out.