The bad news is that Lewis Hamilton has to take a 5-place grid penalty for an engine change in Brazil this weekend but the good news is the new Mercedes engine works a treat! Lewis was nearly .5s ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in qualifying on Friday and at the Interlagos circuit, that can be an eternity.
Lewis will now start on pole for the final Sprint race of the season on Saturday but will then serve his grid penalty on Sunday so if he wins on Saturday, he’ll be starting 5 places lower on Sunday.
That may sound bad, and it’s not great, but it beats a DNF and with that much power—nearly .5s—one might consider that he can easily march back through the field to take the fight to Max.
Qualifying Results:
| Pos | Name | Car | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m08.733s | 1m08.068s | 1m07.934s |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1m09.329s | 1m08.499s | 1m08.372s |
| 3 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1m09.04s | 1m08.426s | 1m08.469s |
| 4 | Sergio Pérez | Red Bull-Honda | 1m09.172s | 1m08.973s | 1m08.483s |
| 5 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1m09.347s | 1m08.903s | 1m08.777s |
| 6 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Ferrari | 1m09.046s | 1m09.031s | 1m08.826s |
| 7 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m09.155s | 1m08.859s | 1m08.96s |
| 8 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m09.365s | 1m09.03s | 1m08.98s |
| 9 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m09.374s | 1m09.093s | 1m09.039s |
| 10 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault | 1m09.391s | 1m09.137s | 1m09.113s |
| 11 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 1m09.43s | 1m09.189s | |
| 12 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1m09.451s | 1m09.399s | |
| 13 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1m09.35s | 1m09.483s | |
| 14 | Kimi Räikkönen | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1m09.598s | 1m09.503s | |
| 15 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1m09.342s | 1m10.227s | |
| 16 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1m09.663s | ||
| 17 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1m09.897s | ||
| 18 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1m09.953s | ||
| 19 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari | 1m10.329s | ||
| 20 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas-Ferrari | 1m10.589s |
