Hamilton takes pole in Brazil - Qualifying results and report

Lewis Hamilton took pole for the Brazilian Grand Prix ahead of Sebastian Vettel and teammate Valtteri Bottas who slotted in third.

Q1 got underway with a sizeable queue at the end of the pitlane due to the threat of rain in the air. All cars got out on track as soon as possible apart from the Toro Rosso pair.

Times quickly began to tumble as drivers circulated but Charles Leclerc was able to put his car in P6 initially with a great lap. Verstappen put his Red Bull in top spot early on with Ferrari and Mercedes unable to match him.

Drivers began to report light rain with around ten minutes remaining in the session. With around five minutes remaining of the session, those calls became more frequent leaving those in the drop zone feeling vulnerable.

Eventually, the track did start to lose grip leaving Carlos Sainz, Brendon Hartley, Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll and Stoffel Vandoorne out of the first session.

Q2 got underway with a huge queue at the end of the pitlane with reports of rain increasing. Mercedes made a late call on tyres to change onto the supersoft tyres before going out on track.

Meanwhile, Ferrari opted to box both cars and fit the soft tyres rather than do a run on the red-walled tyres. 

With both drivers able to set a time on the softs good enough for Q3, Ferrari will start on the soft tyres with Mercedes on supersofts after a great bit of gamesmanship from the Scuderia. Could it be a race-winning move? Time will tell.

A scary moment for Sergey Sirotkin with an oblivious Hamilton almost driving into him forcing the Russian to take evasive action. The Williams driver very nearly on the grass in an incident that could land the Mercedes driver a grid drop.

Despite conditions worsening, Leclerc opted for a final run and after a magnificent lap, he put himself into Q3 at the expense of Kevin Magnussen.

With rain beginning to properly fall with five minutes left in the session, the top ten was already set with Magnussen Sergio Perez, Esteban Ocon, Nico Hulkenberg and Sergey Sirotkin falling victims to the worsening conditions.

To heighten the drama, Vettel was reported to the stewards in between sessions for ignoring calls to turn off his engine at the FIA weighbridge and then breaking them by driving off them. 

In Q3, Hamilton took round one, snatching pole away from Vettel with Bottas unable to match his teammate in third. Red Bull slotted in behind Ferrari and Mercedes unable to match their pace.

The only one who went on to improve their time in the dying moments was the pole sitter, Hamilton going a tenth quicker in his second run to cement his position at the front. Vettel will line up alongside in P2 with Mercedes teammate Bottas in P3 setting up a thrilling prospect tomorrow.

QUALIFYING CLASSIFICATION: Career pole No. 82 for @LewisHamilton #BrazilGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/7h0gn11aic

— Formula 1 (@F1) November 10, 2018