Verstappen and Hamilton start at the back in Brazil with a tyre advantage their rivals spent

Neither world champion had anything to gain in qualifying. Verstappen took a 30-place grid penalty after Red Bull fitted a new internal combustion engine, turbocharger and exhaust, while Hamilton needed a complete power unit change after his fresh Ferrari engine developed a problem in final practice. The penalties leave Hamilton 20th on the grid and Verstappen 21st.

Verstappen was third quickest in Q1 on the extreme wet Pirellis once the session restarted after the long rain delay. Red Bull then decided he would not run in Q2 at all. The aim was to keep sets of full wets for a race with heavy rain in the forecast, after the tyre had held up well in the Q1 conditions.

Each driver gets five sets of intermediates and only two sets of full wets for the weekend and Verstappen used only one set of wets all day. The Dutchman said he had treated the session as a box-ticking exercise.

Hamilton took a different route to the same place. He started Q2 but stopped running once the rest of the field switched to intermediates, and he was classified 11th. Asked about it afterwards, the Ferrari driver said: "I wish I was still out there battling with the guys, but unfortunately, saving the tyres for tomorrow."

The drivers at the front could not afford to hold anything back. Figures show that pole-sitter Lando Norris used two new sets of full wets, which is his whole allocation, plus two sets of intermediates. George Russell and Kimi Antonelli each used one new set of wets and two new sets of intermediates.

That leaves the two champions at the back with fresher wet-weather rubber than several of the drivers they need to pass, however, it will only pay off if the rain arrives. Formula 1's official forecast gives a 40 percent chance of heavy rain and thunderstorms, and AccuWeather puts the chance of rain at 47 percent for the 14:00 local start.

Verstappen knows a wet Interlagos can turn a race around. In 2024 he started 17th and won in the rain although he is not expecting to repeat that comeback this time.

Hamilton sounded more upbeat. When asked whether he could charge through the field from 20th, he replied: "That's what we're trying to do, yeah," and added: "It's going to be really tricky conditions, but I love racing in the rain."