Lewis Hamilton has secured the first starting position in the sprint race during qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix. The Briton drove a fantastic time and was faster than his teammate Valtteri Bottas and rival Max Verstappen.

The drivers all came out on the soft tyre in Q1. Hamilton got off to an excellent start with a time of 1:08:733, making him the fastest. The British driver beat Carlos Sainz who was three tenths short of Hamilton's time. Verstappen had to settle for a fifth time, while Charles Leclerc and Valtteri Bottas were ahead of him.

At the back of the grid, the first session resulted in a number of dropouts. Lance Stroll, Nicholas Latifi, George Russell, Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin all failed to go fast enough to reach Q2. Sebastian Vettel, Esteban Ocon and Kimi Räikkönen all had a bit of a scare at the end of the session, but they managed to stay on the right side of the line.

Battle between Hamilton and Verstappen

In the second session Verstappen showed how strong his car is this season. The Dutchman set the fastest lap within a few minutes, but Hamilton then improved his time. The driver from Great Britain was almost two tenths quicker than his big rival, which put him in first place. He did not give this place away in the rest of the session. While Bottas finished in second place, Verstappen took third.

The second session was the last job of the day for Antonio Giovinazzi, Räikkönen, Vettel, Yuki Tsunoda and Ocon. The drivers came up short to finish in the top ten and thus to secure a better starting position.

Powerful Verstappen

Sainz, Fernando Alonso and Pierre Gasly started the final session excellently, but Hamilton and Verstappen immediately put things right. Both men improved their times at lightning speed and ended up in first and second place respectively. The Dutchman fell short of his rival's time, which he did not make up for. Bottas finished just behind Verstappen.