Brazilian Grand Prix Qualifying LIVE
Here you can see all the latest from the Brazilian Grand Prix Qualifying LIVE as it happens.
Toto Wolff on the claims that he called Max Verstappen’s dad about ‘keeping out of the race for the title’ – “It wasn’t like that at all. I’m a silent fan of Max and have a good relationship with his father. I like seeing the racing and it’s good for the sport but I just said that there needs to be a little bit of caution as it will cause harm for all the drivers.“
“I didn’t call Jos to control a situation – I’ve known him for a very long time and it wasn’t like suggested.“
Half an hour to go until Qualifying begins.
Brazilian Grand Prix Qualifying LIVE
There’s light rain in the air and the conditions are a lot cooler than yesterday – it should be a great qualifying session.
The forecast at the moment is a 70% chance of rain.
Qualifying 1
Cars are now on-track. Rain is showing up on the radar. Hamilton on track first followed by Rosberg.
Team to Hamilton – “Wind speed has picked up, especially on Turn 4.“
Hamilton has now started his first timed lap.
Setting his time of 1:11.511
Hamilton and Rosberg have now come into the pits.
Verstappen goes third fastest followed by Raikkonen and the Williams drivers, Massa leading Bottas.
Hamilton asking his team if they want him to go out again, team replies “negative, box, box, box“.
All the cars are now back in the pits.
3 minutes left in Qualifying 1.
The top 9 cars are still in the pits with 19 seconds to go till Qualifying 2 – the cars in the knock out zone are on-track trying to improve on their times.
Qualifying 1 – Knock Out Zone
Button
Magnussen
Wehrlein
Ocon
Ericsson
Nasr
Now we move onto Q2…….
Qualifying 2
Hamilton is the first car on track, followed by his team-mate Nico Rosberg for Qualifying 2.
Jenson Button after qualifying – “The car was well balanced yesterday and today it’s a completely different car. We had a new engine, a new gearbox on the car and in high speed it’s just so on the nose. You don’t have the grip and there’s no reason for it to be like that. Its annoying but……“
Hamilton sets a fastest lap time of 1:11.238 followed by Rosberg, Verstappen and Vettel.
The two Mercedes are now back in the pits.
Vettel – “The lap was OK, I’m struggling in Turn 4 and the last corner.”
Cars are now back into the pits with 5 minutes of the session to go.
Qualifying 2 – Knock Out Zone
Gutierrez
Massa
Kvyat
Sainz
Palmer
Now we go onto the final qualifying session to see who’s going to qualify on pole for the Brazilian Grand Prix tomorrow.
Track conditions are still cool.
Qualifying 3
A few spots of rain in the air but there still seems to be a lot of wind.
Hamilton is the first car on track, again followed by his team-mate Rosberg.
Hamilton sets a time of 1:10.850 followed by Rosberg with 1:11.022 followed by Verstappen, Vettel, Ricciardo, Raikkonen and Alonso – so far.
Hamilton now comes into the pits.
Team to Rosberg – “Do you want to try a different tyre pressure?“
Rosberg – “I don’t think it’s going to make much difference to be honest, it’s not very good.“
The temperature has just dropped and the wind has now picked up – conditions are getting cooler.
5 minutes of qualifying to go.
Hamilton is now back on track – two minutes of qualifying left.
All 10 cars are now on-track.
Hamilton improves on his time.
Top 10
Hamilton
Rosberg
Raikkonen
Verstappen
Vettel
Ricciardo
Grosjean
Hulkenberg
Perez
Alonso
Hamilton qualifies on pole for the Brazilian Grand Prix tomorrow.
Team to Hamilton – “Great time Lewis, well done – Rosberg is one tenth behind.”
Niki Lauda – “The most impressive part is the time difference to the other car in third which is good. It all depends on the weather and the conditions tomorrow. Lewis has no pressure because he can attack and has nothing to lose. Rosberg has something to lose.“
Brief Driver Reaction from the Top 3 – Hamilton, Rosberg and Raikkonen.
Hamilton – “Honestly, I just felt really comfortable through qualifying and all weekend. I’ve had things covered. It’s just remarkable when you think about what this team has done and to have had so many pole positions is brilliant.”
“This is the best I could have hoped for coming to Brazil, I’m so happy.”
Rosberg – “It was an exciting qualifying out there for sure, very close – Lewis was marginally quicker in the end and my lap was not quick enough meaning that I lost out in the end but as we’ve seen this year – pole isn’t always the guy who wins the race so I’m still optimistic for the race tomorrow – I’m going to try and win tomorrow.”
Hamilton – “I don’t mind about the weather – I’m ready for tomorrow.”
Rosberg – “I’m just looking forward to tomorrow. We have a great car no matter the weather, it’s good in the dry and it’s good in the rain too.”
Raikkonen – “I had a good qualifying but to be honest the last lap was pretty average in my view but it was enough for third place. Mercedes were a bit too far ahead and I struggled in the first two corners but it was good enough for this and we will see what we can do in the race tomorrow.”
More to follow!
The Formula 1 Girl 🙂
xxx