Sao Paulo Grand Prix – Following the final Sprint qualifying session of the season, all eyes were on Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton who was disqualified from the Friday qualifying session for a technical infringement.
The resulting penalty saw Hamilton start at the back of the grid. However, a storming drive from the seven time world champion saw the Briton finish in a stunning fifth place.
Bottas sees off Verstappen charge to claim pole at Sao Paulo Sprint
However, everything looks to be against Hamilton this weekend as Mercedes have elected to change the internal combustion engine in the back of his W12. As such, Hamilton will start in tenth after taking a five-place grid penalty.
Further up, Valtteri Bottas in the other Mercedes got the better of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and stayed in front to start the Grand Prix ahead of the championship leader. Whether the Dutchman can replicate what Bottas did at the start will be another question.
Here is how the grid lines up for the grid for the Grand Prix:
- Valtteri Bottas Mercedes
- Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing
- Carlos Sainz Scuderia Ferrari
- Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing
- Lando Norris McLaren
- Charles Leclerc Scuderia Ferrari
- Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri
- Esteban Ocon Alpine
- Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin
- Lewis Hamilton Mercedes (PENALTY)
- Daniel Ricciardo McLaren
- Fernando Alonso Alpine
- Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo
- Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri
- Lance Stroll Aston Martin
- Nicholas Latifi Williams Racing
- George Russell Williams Racing
- Mick Schumacher Haas
- Nikita Mazepin Haas
- Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo (PENALTY)
