Brazilian GP: Red Bull's Max Verstappen takes pole position
Formula 1 | November 17, 2019 7:20 ISTWhile Verstappen took the pole position, Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel finished second, followed by Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes.
While Verstappen took the pole position, Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel finished second, followed by Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes.
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel will start second place with Red Bull's Max Verstappen at third and Charles Leclerc of Ferrari at fourth.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen was penalized for not slowing down after Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas had a hard crash just ahead of him on his final lap of Saturday's qualifying.
Sebastian Vettel registered his first victory since the 2018 Belgian GP, as Ferrari cruised to their first victory in 13 months and secured the top-2 positions.
The disappointment continued for Ferrari, as both the cars faced technical issues, while Lewis Hamilton clinched the pole position at the German Grand Prix.
Sebastian Vettel had been given a five-second time penalty for an incident which happened with a little more than 20 laps to go and despite Vettel taking the checkered flag, that penalty gave Lewis Hamilton the win.
After five races and no wins for either Sebastian Vettel or Charles Leclerc, Ferrari's hopes of ending the dominance of Mercedes are already hanging by a thread.
Vettel has had more luck settling into rhythm on race day Down Under, and is aiming to equal two of Michael Schumacher's records on Sunday.
The season-opening race is next Sunday at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
Ferrari can start the Formula One season with the belief it has a car fast enough to give Mercedes a title challenge. Sebastian Vettel concluded the F1 preseason with the fastest time through the eight days of testing.
Leclerc's stoppage was nothing compared to the scare that Vettel had on Wednesday, when he crashed into a barrier and needed to be checked out by medical staff.
Vettel, the runner-up to the title last season, clocked the fastest time, was the busiest driver with 169 laps and, most importantly, felt right at home behind the wheel of his new Ferrari.
Twenty-one year old Leclerc is being touted as a future world champion after an impressive debut season with Sauber last year.
Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen talked about babies, practice and lots more.
Sebastian Vettel led Hamilton by eight points after 10 of 21 races and 4-3 in wins, only to lose by 88 points overall and 11-5 in races won.
Hamilton leads Vettel by 67 points and any result Sunday that puts him eight or more points ahead of Vettel clinches the title.
If Hamilton wins Sunday, Vettel must finish second to push the championship another week to Mexico City.
Starting from pole, the Mercedes driver was never seriously challenged and crossed the finish line 12.919 seconds ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas.
Lewis Hamilton claimed pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix on Saturday, leading a 1-2 finish for Mercedes and taking a step closer to securing his fifth F1 title.
Hamilton now leads Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel by 50 points in the standings with five races remaining as both chase their fifth title.
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