Friday November 12th 2021
With dream time to the sprint pole
Plagued Hamilton uses exclamation marks
Lewis Hamilton experienced tough days in the decisive phase of the Formula 1 season: At the Mexican Grand Prix, the seven-time world champion was duped and now he had to start the race with a penalty. In qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix, he impressively stopped the negative trend for the first time.
World champion Lewis Hamilton has secured the top spot in the Formula 1 qualification in São Paulo and will be the first to start the new sprint race on Saturday (8.30 p.m. / Sky and in the live ticker on ntv.de). With a new engine, the Mercedes driver relegated World Championship leader Max Verstappen, who complained of overheating tires, to second place. Third was Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes.
Sebastian Vettel was eliminated in the second qualifying phase. The Aston Martin driver did not get past twelfth place on Friday at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in Interlagos. The four-time Formula 1 world champion thus missed the last knockout lap of the ten fastest drivers. Mick Schumacher had already retired from the Haas in the first section.
In Interlagos, the qualification is not decisive for the Grand Prix on Sunday, but for the sprint race on Saturday. The starting line-up will be determined there. The winner of the test format receives three counters, the second two and the third one. In the Grand Prix on Sunday, the distribution of points is as usual, starting with 25 points for the winner. Then Lewis Hamilton has to start from further back: Because of his engine change, the seven-time world champion was given a grid penalty of five places.