Valtteri Bottas steals pole from Ferrari at Interlagos

With an ambitious vision about to Mercedes W08 very lively since the start of the weekend, Lewis Hamilton hoped to showcase his new status as quadruple world champion on the land of his idol Ayrton Senna.

But the Briton is not in the first positions on the Brazilian starting grid and for good reason: the Mercedes driver made a mistake in the first moments of Q1, before ending his race by hitting the protective barriers.

That's the first time @LewisHamilton has gone out in #Q1 since Belgium 2016 #BrazilGP  #F1 #Which pic.twitter.com/UErKNU1R3a

— Formula 1 (@F1) November 11, 2017

Enough to open a boulevard to Valtteri Bottas, who had already been three thousandths ahead of his teammate earlier in the afternoon in FP3. The Finn waited until his last lap in Q3 to establish a route record in 1'08″322 and get ahead of both Ferrari de Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen.

The disappointment was legitimate in the Italian clan, since Vettel had achieved the best time during the first attempts in Q3, but ultimately failed 38 thousandths behind the poleman.

Behind the two trans single-seatersalpines, Max Verstappen et Daniel Ricciardo conclude the session in fourth and fifth position, but the Australian will have to observe a ten-place penalty after the replacement of the Power Unit's MGU-H Renault of his Red Bull.

Sergio Pérez (Force India), Fernando Alonso (McLaren), the Renaults of Nico Hulkenberg et Carlos Sainz and Williams of Felipe Massa complete the Q3 ranking.

No French driver in Q3

Regularly placed in the top 10 in qualifications, Esteban Ocon (Force India) did not repeat his performance at Interlagos by failing in 11th position ahead of his compatriot Romain Grosjean (Haas). The latter admitted that his mechanics had to work on his gearbox between FP3 and qualifying.

The two Frenchmen precede the second McLaren of Stoffel Vandoorne, Kevin Magnussen (Haas) and the Toro Rosso de Brendon Hartley, which will also observe ten penalty places. Pascal Wehrlein (Sauber) follows in front Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso), who will move back on the grid after being sanctioned for changing MGU-H.

Lance stroll (Williams), who only played part of Q1 after a long period of work by his team to change the engine and gearbox of his car and Marcus Ericsson (Sauber) complete the ranking.

Without having achieved a time, Lewis Hamilton will start dead last tomorrow at the start of this penultimate round of the season at 17 p.m. French time. The event will be followed live via our live text.

INITIAL CLASSIFICATION (END OF QUALIFYING): @ValtteriBottas claims his third career pole #BrazilGP  #F1 #Which pic.twitter.com/DU2rFxE1yk

- Formula 1 (@ F1) November 11, 2017

Qualification ranking