Hamilton, who was fastest in both of Friday's practices, could also leave Saudi Arabia tied with Verstappen in the standings if the Mercedes driver wins Sunday and scores maximum points.
Verstappen still holds an eight-point lead with two races remaining in one of the most dramatic F1 title fights in at least a decade.
Hamilton won the 102nd pole of his career, fourth of the season and first since the Hungarian Grand Prix in August. Hamilton trails Verstappen by 14 points in the championship fight with three races remaining.
Hamilton, a seven-time world champion, beat Verstappen despite starting from 10th position on the grid due to a penalty — the second Hamilton faced this weekend in Sao Paulo.
The challenge will be holding off the hard-charging Red Bulls and Max Verstappen over 71 laps on Sunday.
The intensity of the tightest championship race in years might have derailed a different driver — especially when Hamilton pulled within 1 second on the final lap — but Verstappen thrived under pressure and won his eighth race of the season.
While Bottas won the Turkish GP, Verstappen returned to the top spot with a second-place finish.
Max Verstappen was handed a three-place grid penalty for the Russian GP in Sochi after the stewards judged he was to blame for causing a collision with Lewis Hamilton at Monza.
It was McLaren's first win in nearly nine years, since Jenson Button took the chequered flag in Brazil in 2012.
Bottas finished the 18-lap dash 2.325 seconds ahead of Verstappen but will start at the back of the grid on Sunday as he is going to take a new power unit and will receive a penalty for doing so.
Bottas’ final flying lap saw him beat Hamilton by .096 seconds in a qualifying session that set the grid for Formula One's second-ever sprint, which will determine the starting lineup for Sunday’s main race.
The Red Bull driver's leading seventh win of the season and 17th of his career moved him three points ahead of the defending champion, who finished second but softened the blow with a bonus point for fastest lap.
The Red Bull driver's final lap was just good enough to beat Mercedes star Lewis Hamilton by .04 seconds and his teammate Valtteri Bottas by .034.
The orange-clad home crowd roared as the Red Bull star finished an impressive .56 seconds quicker than Valtteri Bottas and .79 quicker than Lewis Hamilton
Verstappen will be aiming for his seventh victory of the season in front of home crowd as F1 returns to his homeland's Circuit Zandvoort after 36 years.
The race was shortened to last one hour with only half points awarded to the winner, who needed to complete only two laps to earn points.
World champion Lewis Hamilton placed third for Mercedes.
The Red Bull driver must focus his mind on checking the Mercedes star's momentum, starting at this Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix at the iconic Spa-Francorchamps.
Verstappen's sizable championship lead was slashed from 33 points to eight after he crashed at last weekend's British GP.
The FIA will hear from Red Bull via video conference on Thursday ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.
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