Verstappen seizes pole in Sao Paolo for Red Bull; Ferrari’s Vettel P2, Hamilton P3 for Merecedes
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen earned his second career pole position and second of the year during Saturday qualifying for the Brazilian Gran Prix. The Dutch wunderkind was consistently faster than the more vaunted Ferraris and Mercedes, as the Red Bull team look to finish the season strong and stick it to the big boys in the penultimate race of the Formula 1 calendar tomorrow at Autódromo José Carlos Pace in Sao Paolo, more commonly know as Interlagos. Verstappen was over a tenth quicker than Sebastian Vettel’s P2 Prancing Horse and the P3 Silver Arrow of newly minted 6-time champion Lewis Hamilton. Known for having driven one of the best ever wet weather races here back in 2016, Verstappen will be looking to keep his top spot until the checkered flag flies on Sunday and earn his first Brazilian GP win.
With the teams originally mixed and matched at the front of the grid, Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas was promoted to P4 alongside his teammate Lewis Hamilton even though Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc bested the Finn in quali because Leclerc faces a 10-spot grid penalty come race day due to a power unit change. It should be fun watching the talented young Monegasque motor his way back up to the front from a lowly P14 start.
Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Alexander Albon was sixth fastest, while Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly excelled to set the seventh fastest time. Haas had a rare good qualifying effort of late with Romain Grosjean P8 and Kevin Magnussen P10. But only time will tell if they can make that pace stick in the actual race, where their finicky chassis has been bedeviled all season long by tire temperature issues. Veteran Kimi Raikkonen, who has now raced in the second-most F1 Grand Prix in the sports history behind the long-tenured Brazilian driver Rubens Barrichello, was ninth fastest in his Alfa-Romeo.
Top 10 qualifiers for the Brazilian GP:
| POS | DRIVER | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:08.242 | 1:07.503 | 1:07.508 | |
| 2 | 1:08.556 | 1:08.050 | 1:07.631 | |
| 3 | 1:08.614 | 1:08.088 | 1:07.699 | |
| 4 | 1:08.496 | 1:07.888 | 1:07.728 | |
| 5 | 1:08.545 | 1:08.232 | 1:07.874 | |
| 6 | 1:08.503 | 1:08.117 | 1:07.935 | |
| 7 | 1:08.909 | 1:08.770 | 1:08.837 | |
| 8 | 1:09.197 | 1:08.705 | 1:08.854 | |
| 9 | 1:09.276 | 1:08.858 | 1:08.984 | |
| 10 | 1:08.875 | 1:08.803 | 1:09.037 |
Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.
Tomorrow’s race will be broadcast live on ESPN2 starting at Noon Eastern here in the States. With only two races left in the 2019 season I hope to see you then to find out if Red Bull has the legs at Interlagos to get the better of fabled Ferrari and mighty Mercedes and perhaps lay down a marker of intent for next year,