Towards the end of the week I've felt exhausted. So a thought of me, sofa and Formula 1 felt irresistibly wonderful. I could forget all my worries and concentrate on Sebastian, Max and Kimi driving around the challenging circuit of Interlagos.
From the first moment of Q1 there was no stopping Verstappen, who was absolutely on flames. In spite of traffic on his first flyer, Max made it on top of the standings, with teammate Albon two tenths off Max's benchmark, which was an impressive lap from the Thai driver. Ferrari seemed to be the second team in the pecking order, as Charles was third and Sebastian fourth. Mercedes had more pace to find, as Hamilton was fifth and Bottas sixth after the first flyers. Meanwhile, Sainz in his orange McLaren was hit with technical woes; the Spaniard had to pit due to engine issues, with no lap time set. There were some improvements at the end of the first segment, as Charles made his way to P2 and Bottas to P4 in the charts. Alfa Romeo were very close to the knock-out zone. On his last attempt Kimi was able to move 14th, which guaranteed the Iceman a place in Q2 alongside his teammate Giovinazzi. In addition to unlucky Sainz, Toro Rosso's Kvyat, Racing Point's Perez and the Williams teammates of Russell and Kubica were eliminated from Q2.
As the light at the pit exit turned green, the Mercedes aces headed out on the red-walled soft tyres. Charles was the only driver to go out on the medium rubber. There was an obvious explanation behind Charles' tyre choice; the Monegasque was to serve a 10-place grid penalty due to a change of multiple power unit elements. Charles showed amazing performance on the medium tyre wear, as he went fastest on his first run, leaving Hamilton second and Bottas third. But out of the shadows came Verstappen, who set a dazzling lap time! Max was so at home on the Brazilian soil. Sebastian went third fastest, but was left two tenths shy of his teammate's time, in spite of the soft tyres! Kimi stood out of the crowd as well, as the Iceman was able to make it among the top ten, even though he made it just barely. There were no improvements on the second runs; partly because of Kimi's teammate Giovinazzi, who spun at the closing stages of Q2, bringing out the yellow flags. McLaren's pace left a little to hope for, as neither one of the McLaren drivers made it to the last segment. On the contrary, Norris was the first driver to miss out on Q3. Out were also the Renault duo of Ricciardo and Hulkenberg, Alfa Romeo's Giovinazzi and Racing Point's Perez.
The drivers of the midfield teams -Toro Rosso's Gasly, the Haas duo of Grosjean and Magnussen and Alfa Romeo's Kimi- came out on a used set of soft tyres, as they had only one fresh set left. Max made an obvious mistake on his first run, but his one-lap pace was still magical. The flying Dutchman took provisional pole by eight thousandths of a second to Sebastian, who also had a wobble in the last corner. Charles was third, Hamilton fourth and Bottas fifth. The margins were minimal, so it seemed, that any driver of the three big teams could conquer pole. Kimi, too had made an excellent first attempt, and was in P8. But Max had come to Brazil to stamp his authority all over the circuit that he loves! He improved his lap time on his final run, snatching his second career pole! The Dutchman's performance was outstanding, as he topped the time sheets in all three sessions! Sebastian made it on the front row, which was such a joy. Hamilton managed to improve in the end, robbing Charles of P3. Due to his penalty, Charles will drop down to P14 on the grid. The Monegasque's penalty will promote Bottas to P4 and Albon to P5. Gasly in the sister team's car will start from P6. Haas' Grosjean and Alfa Romeo's Kimi will line up on the fourth row, followed by Haas' Magnussen.
I'm sure Max will unleash the lion at the start tomorrow. Whether it is enough to win the race, let's see. Mercedes have been in trouble with the tyre management, as the Silver Arrows have suffered from overheating of the tyres. It's interesting to see, how this will affect the world champions' race. It should be a dry race; if it was wet, it would only increase Max's chances to win the race! I'm sure Sebastian will put up a passionate fight for the victory. I'm so happy to see my two favorites on the front row! And so afraid, that they will hit each other in the first corner!
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