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Lewis Hamilton displayed dominant pace in qualifying as he claimed pole ahead of the final Sprint of the F1 season.
His title nemesis, Max Verstappen, couldn’t string together a perfect lap and had to settle for second, but will hope to be on pole for Sunday’s Grand Prix where the biggest portion of points will be on offer.
Q1
The first drivers out onto the Autódromo José Carlos Pace were the two Ferrari’s of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.
It was the Monegasque who set the session’s first time with a 1:10.780 as an early benchmark. His time was beaten by Sainz and Pierre Gasly moments later as the AlphaTauri man posted a 1:10.062 with 14 minutes to go.
Lance Stroll’s first time put him top but the Canadian was soon pipped to the top spot by Lando Norris. Not long after, a 1:09.329 from Max Verstappen saw him move to the top.
With nine minutes of Q1 remaining, Hamilton set a 1:08.824 which sent him to the summit with his teammate Valtteri Bottas moving into third after his first flying lap.
Yuki Tsunoda set his first time of the session with seven minutes remaining and went fifth fastest, over fifth-tenths slower than Hamilton fastest time.
The seven-time world champion improved on his quickest time of the session as he extended his advantage at the top by another tenth.
Leclerc set a new personal best and went third as the track continued to improve and the drivers in the bottom five looked to improve.
A late flurry of times were set which saw Kimi Raikkonen escape elimination alongside Esteban Ocon as the two drivers qualified for Q2.
The drivers that were eliminated from Q1 were Lance Stroll, Nicholas Latifi, George Russell, Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.
Q2
After a bit of a wait, the cars finally took to the track fronted by Mercedes duo Hamilton and Bottas.
It was the Brit who continued his fine pace by posting a 1:08.659, however, his time was deleted due to a track limits infringement at turn four.
Meanwhile, Verstappen, Gasly and Leclerc formed the top three with the former setting a 1:08.567 with nine minutes to go.
Four minutes later, Hamilton finally set a meaningful lap with his blistering 1:08.386 seeing him claim the top spot.
With three minutes of Q2 remaining, all cars retook to the track in the hopes of setting a time that will secure their status in the top 10 shootout.
Fernando Alonso set his final time and stayed ninth as Norris and Hamilton improved their times with the Mercedes man improving on his fastest lap by three-tenths.
The drivers that were eliminated from Q2 were Esteban Ocon, Sebastian Vettel, Yuki Tsunoda , Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi.
Q3
After another few minute wait, Leclerc was the first to leave the pit lane in Q3. However, the Ferrari driver had to abort his first flying lap after it was ruined by drivers on their out laps.
Early Q3 times started to tumble as Hamilton claimed provisional pole with a 1:08.107. Verstappen, who was complaining about his tyres overheating throughout the lap, could only find pace for second, three-tenths behind his championship rival.
With two minutes of the session remaining, all cars returned to the track to set their final times of qualifying.
Leclerc set a time that put him fifth before Sainz jumped up to fourth. Moments later, Hamilton set a 1:07.934 which sealed his pole position as Verstappen failed to improve which saw him settle for second.
Valtteri Bottas qualified third with Sergio Perez in fourth, Pierre Gasly in fifth, Carlos Sainz in sixth, Charles Leclerc in seventh, Lando Norris in eighth, Daniel Ricciardo in ninth and Fernando Alonso rounded out the top 10.
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