Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton ended up fastest in F1 Sao Paulo GP in Friday qualifying ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas.

Q1:

With just the soft tyres to be used, the F1 Sao Paulo GP (Brazil GP)’s first session saw straight attack by everyone on the grid under cloudy conditions. The FIA started to monitor track limits at Turn 4 after drivers were using it as an advantage in FP1.

The details of it is shared below, as the likes of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi were caught out by lap deletion. The Monegasque leapt to third eventually behind teammate Carlos Sainz, while Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton (1m08.733s) led the way.

But better laps from Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and Sainz then put them in second and third, with Leclerc fourth. The Top 16 were all covered by 0.930s with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll (1m09.663s) the first to be knocked out in 16th after his mistake on his fast lap.

He was pretty angry about his lap as he led Williams’ Nicholas Latifi (1m09.897s) from George Russell (1m09.953s) where the Canadian finished ahead of the Brit in a qualifying trim – although he will have to finish ahead on Saturday to out-qualify him for the first time.

The Haas pair rounded out the 20 runners with Mick Schumacher (1m10.329s) ahead of Nikita Mazepin (1m10.589s), where the German had his fast lap deleted too. The Russian early on had a good save but made a mistake on his final lap.

Q2:

The second session in F1 Sao Paulo GP (Brazil GP) saw outright lap deletion for Hamilton to start off as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen set early pace. However, the Brit continued on for another lap of 1m08.386s to better it by 0.181s and end up fastest.

Even Bottas improved on his time on the second lap to be third behind Verstappen. But the times changed as Hamilton improved further to set a 1m08.068s lap in the lead ahead of the Finn and the Dutchman, where they were both more than three-tenths behind.

At the fag end of the Top 10, Alpine’s Fernando Alonso just made it in but teammate Esteban Ocon (1m09.189s) was knocked out in 11th from Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel (1m09.399s), with both managing to clear a faster AlphaTauri.

Having made it in Q3 for the last couple of races, Yuki Tsunoda (1m09.483s) was 13th ahead of the Alfa Romeo pair of Kimi Raikkonen (1m09.503s) and Giovinazzi (1m10.227s) in the Top 15.

Q3:

The final part in F1 Sao Paulo GP (Brazil GP) saw Hamilton take provisional pole after his 1m08.107s lap which was 0.265s quicker than title rival Verstappen, who upped his pace. Bottas slotted in third ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.

AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was best of the rest in fifth. The final run saw improvement from Hamilton with a 1m07.934s lap to take the fastest lap in F1 Sao Paulo GP ahead of Verstappen (1m08.372s), who did not improve on his final lap.

Bottas (1m08.469s) stood third from Perez (1m08.483s), with Gasly (1m08.777s) in fifth ahead of the Ferrari pair of Carlos Sainz (1m08.826s) and Leclerc (1m08.960s) who beat the McLaren pair of Lando Norris (1m08.980s) and Daniel Ricciardo (1m09.039s), with Alonso (1m09.113s) in 10th.

Having not issued any track limits note on Thursday’s Race Directors’ Note, the FIA did so on a revised brief on Friday post the FP1 session, with Turn 4 exit to be monitored for the rest of the weekend, especially the exit of the corner.

Turn 4 – Exit:

a) A lap time achieved during any practice session or the race by leaving the track on the exit of Turn 4, will result in that lap time being invalidated by the stewards.

General – Turn 4 Exit:

a) Each time any car fails to negotiate Turn 4 Exit by using the track, teams will be informed via the official messaging system.

b) On the third occasion of a driver failing to negotiate Turn 4 Exit by using the track during the race, he will be shown a black and white flag, any further cutting will then be reported to the stewards. For the avoidance of doubt this means a total of three occasions combined not three at each corner.

c) The driver must only re-join the track when it is safe to do so and without gaining a lasting advantage.

d) The above requirements will not automatically apply to any driver who is judged to have been forced off the track, each such case will be judged individually.

UPDATE: FIA Technical Delegate referred Hamilton’s car to the stewards after it failed the maximum opening distance. Ideally, the DRS when opened should have a distance between 10mm to 85mm, but the Brit was found to be more than the maximum limit of 85mm.

“The uppermost rear wing element adjustable positions were checked on car number 44 for compliance with Article 3.6.3 of the 2021 Formula One Technical Regulations. The requirement for the minimum distance was fulfilled. But the requirement for the maximum of 85mm, when the DRS system is deployed and tested in accordance with TD/011-19, were not fulfilled. I am referring this matter to the stewards for their consideration,” said the statement, as the stewards officially summoned them.

UPDATE 2: The decision on Hamilton’s rear wing will not take place until the morning of Saturday as per the FIA. “The Stewards have adjourned the hearing relating to Document 18 of the 2021 FIA Formula 1 São Paulo Grand Prix as they await further evidence that will not be available until the morning,” it stated.

Another instruction added: “The Stewards hereby order the Technical Delegate to supervise the removal of the rear wing assembly of Car 44, and to impound this part under seal. Further, the Technical Delegate is to supervise the transition of Car 44 into overnight conditions, permitting only those actions needed to store the car.”

UPDATE 3: After a video surfaced of Verstappen touching the rear wing of Hamilton’s car post qualifying, the FIA has summoned the Dutchman on Saturday morning under Article 2.5.1 of the FIA International Sporting Code.

Here’s a video of Max Verstappen checking rear wing of Lewis Hamilton: https://twitter.com/frd182/status/1459288351224311814?s=20

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR