Timing, the usual driving talent and a pinch of luck. Max Verstappen thus took pole for the Brazilian GP, the 11th of the season and the 31st of his career. Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari will start alongside him on Sunday, also good at seizing the moment, while Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso took their seats in an unprecedented second row with the Alpines. Fifth and sixth place for the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. It was a sudden worsening of the weather that decided the top 10 positions on the grid, when torrential rain, accompanied by violent gusts of wind, hit the Interlagos circuit, forcing the final minutes of Q3 to be cut short. The bad weather, widely expected, hit the end of qualifying as a consequence of the 15′ delay with which they started, to give the commissioners time to clean the asphalt, after in the only free practice session – which ended with Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in the lead – several riders had suffered punctures due to debris on the track. In short, a chain of events that contributed to putting Verstappen ahead of everyone. “There was very little grip when it started to rain, but above all due to the wind constantly changing direction” explained the Dutchman, already confirmed as world champion. “I’m happy because second place is a nice surprise – commented Leclerc – I will do everything to use this position in the best possible way in the race”. The Ferrari driver also explained that the rain had made the cars undriveable, all of which came out with rain tyres. Sainz, however, was visibly disappointed as he left the garage too late and was unable to complete a timed lap before the early stop. The Spaniard thus found himself on the fourth row, with the eighth fastest time, next to Lando Norris’ McLaren. Oscar Piastri, who went off the road without consequences with the other McLarren, did even worse and will start tenth, behind Sergio Perez’s Red Bull.
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2023-11-03 20:05:00
#Brazil #Verstappen #pole #Leclerc
