Sprint Quali Results 2021 Brazilian F1 GP
Event: Brazilian Grand Prix
Track: Autodromo Interlagos
Second placed Max Verstappen celebrates after the sprint ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Brazil at Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
Weather: dry 16.3°C
Tarmac: dry 32.5°C
Humidity: 73.8%
Wind: 0.6 m/s SW
Pressure: 927.7 bar
Valtteri Bottas scored his 20th F1 pole position of his career. The Finnish did it during the third ever sprint quali for the 2021 Brazilian Grand Prix today. The Mercedes driver will start from pole for the second time on Interlagos. It was the 133th pole for the Mercedes team.
Bottas took the lead in front of Verstappen into turn 1. Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz had a very good start and even passed Max Verstappen on the straight towards Turn 4 for P2.
Lewis Hamilton who started from P20 because of his disqualification already was on P14 in lap 2. Kimi Raikkonen spun his Alfa Romeo in turn 1 when he got hit by his teammate.
Verstappen overtook Sainz on the main straight at the beginning lap 4 to get back to P2. In lap . Verstappen was flying in lap 6 and drove the fastest lap up till now.with a 1:12.187 min. Hamilton now was twelfth. Sainz told his team in lap 8 he was struggling with his tyres. Hamilton now had passed Fernando Alonso in the Alpine for P11.
Halfway the sprint Sainz was already more than 11 sec. behind Verstappen who was 1.4s behind Bottas. Hamilton passed Ricciardo on the main straight to get P10 and already had passed 10 positions.
Hamilton was on a roll and in lap 16 he already passed Esteban Ocon for eighth and one lap later he got Pierre Gasly in the AlphaTauri for P7. The British driver drove a sensational sprint quali and by lap 21 the British driver already had passed Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari for P6.
In the final lap Hamilton even passed Lando Norris in the Mclaren for P5, while his teammate won the sprint quali.
Classification 2021 Brazilian Sprint Quali
| P | No | Driver | Team | Lap Time | Laps | Points |
| 1 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 29:09.559 | 24 | 3 |
| 2 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | +1.170s | 24 | 2 |
| 3 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | +18.723s | 24 | 1 |
| 4 | 11 | Sergio Pérez | Red Bull | +19.787s | 24 | |
| 5 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | +20.872s | 24 | |
| 6 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | +22.558s | 24 | |
| 7 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +25.056s | 24 | |
| 8 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri | +34.158s | 24 | |
| 9 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | +34.632s | 24 | |
| 10 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin | +34.867s | 24 | |
| 11 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren | +35.869s | 24 | |
| 12 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine | +36.578s | 24 | |
| 13 | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | +41.880s | 24 | |
| 14 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | +44.037s | 24 | |
| 15 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | +46.150s | 24 | |
| 16 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams | +46.760s | 24 | |
| 17 | 63 | George Russell | Williams | +47.739s | 24 | |
| 18 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Alfa Romeo | +50.014s | 24 | |
| 19 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | Haas | +61.680s | 24 | |
| 20 | 9 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas | +67.474s | 24 |
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Hamilton maximized his starting position for tomorrow, while Bottas minimized his points loss in the WDC lead + guaranteed Mercedes stays ahead in the WCC, so a win-win situation for both HAM & the team.