Verstappen beats Vettel to Brazilian GP pole

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen outpaced Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel to claim pole position for the 2019 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix.

The Dutchman’s best effort of a 1m07.508s - which came on his final run - was 0.123s faster than what Vettel could achieve as Verstappen secured his and the Honda-powered Red Bull squad’s second pole of the season. It was a dominant display from Verstappen, who topped all three qualifying sessions in Sao Paulo. 

Recently-crowned six-time world champion Lewis Hamilton clinched third on the Interlagos grid with a late improvement to get within 0.191s of Verstappen’s pole lap.

Charles Leclerc was only fourth-quickest in the second Ferrari but will drop 10 places for Sunday’s race after incurring a penalty for an engine change heading into the weekend.

2019 championship runner-up Valtteri Bottas was 0.366s off the pace as he was left to settle for fifth, though he will move up to the second row alongside Mercedes teammate Hamilton once Leclerc’s penalty is applied.

Alexander Albon, who has been retained by Red Bull for 2020, was nearly half a second slower than teammate Verstappen as he took sixth, ahead of the man he replaced at Red Bull, Pierre Gasly, who continued his recent strong form by sealing best of the rest in seventh place for Toro Rosso.

There was an improved showing from Haas in Brazil as the team got both its cars into Q3 for the first time since May’s Spanish Grand Prix.

Romain Grosjean was 1.3s off the pace in eighth, a tenth clear of Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen and teammate Kevin Magnussen, who completed the top 10.

Lando Norris was just 0.011s shy of progressing into Q3 as neither McLaren driver managed to make it into the final segment of qualifying.

Daniel Ricciardo was marginally quicker than Antonio Giovinazzi, who spun in the middle sector as he failed to join his Alfa Romeo teammate in the top-10 shootout with the 13th-best time.

The second Renault of Nico Hulkenberg - a polesitter in Brazil in 2010 - was just 0.002s adrift of Giovinazzi in 14th, with Sergio Perez a tenth behind in the lead Racing Point.

Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat was left to rue a small error at the final corner as he ended up missing out on Q2 by less than half a tenth in 16th, ahead of Lance Stroll’s Racing Point, who was a further two tenths behind.

Intra-team honours at Williams once again went George Russell’s way as he maintained his qualifying supremacy over Robert Kubica, this time outpacing the 34-year-old Pole by half a second on his way to 18th.

Carlos Sainz will start at the back of the grid after a disastrous Q1, with an engine issue preventing him from setting a time. The Spaniard reported a power drop out as his McLaren suddenly slowed coming up the hill out of Juncao, before returning to the pits.

Full results from Brazilian Grand Prix qualifying.