Bottas grabs pole, Hamilton crashes out
SAO PAULO: Valtteri Bottas took pole position for Mercedes at the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix on Saturday while team-mate and newlycrowned four-time world champion Lewis Hamilton will start at the back after crashing out.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel will join the Finn, who is 15 points behind him in the championship, on the front row with his Finnish team-mate Kimi Raikkonen third and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen fourth.
The pole was the third of Bottas’s career and he did it with a track record time of one minute 08.322 seconds at a damp Interlagos.
“It feels good. It was so close with Seb all through qualifying,” said the Finn, who was 0.038 quicker than Vettel. “It’s a shame Lewis went out but I’m happy I could do a good job for the team.” Hamilton, who clinched his fourth world championship in Mexico two weeks ago, had been hoping for a 12th pole of the season but spun into the barrier at turn seven in the opening session before he could set a lap time.
Vettel had been on provisional pole until Bottas produced his late burst of speed and the German looked forward to a good scrap on Sunday.
“For tomorrow I think it’s fine. I think I chickened out a bit on the brakes into Turn One on the final run,” he said. “But our long run looked good compared to Valtteri so I am feeling good for tomorrow.”
Hamilton’s was a rare mistake by Britain’s most successful racing driver, and last year’s winner from pole at Interlagos, and he will now have to fight through from the back for the second race in a row.
The Mercedes driver won the title by finishing ninth in Mexico after a first lap collision with Vettel sent both to the back of the field.
His mechanics will have work to do, with the impact causing damage to the left side of the Mercedes and ripping off the front wheel and suspension.
Hamilton, unhurt and smiling somewhat unconvincingly as he spoke to reporters later, said it had all happened really quickly.
“It is what it is. Of course it’s unfortunate. Challenges are what makes life interesting and overcoming them makes life meaningful, I guess,” said the 32-year-old.
“I’m just going to try to take CHESTE, Spain: Spain’s Marc Marquez sealed his sixth world championship and fourth in the premier MotoGP category with third place at the season-ending Valencia Grand Prix on Sunday.
Holding a commanding 21-point lead in the championship from Andrea Dovizioso, Marquez was guaranteed the title with a top11 finish or if Dovizioso failed to win the race. And Dovizioso’s fate was sealed when he crashed out five laps from the end.
Marquez’s Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa won the race from France’s Johann Zarco in second.
Starting from pole, Marquez waved Zarco through on the fourth lap to rule out any chance of an untimely early crash.
However, he couldn’t resist an attack on the Frenchman to try and win the championship in style with eight laps to go and ran wide, dropping him down to fifth. Yet, Ducati’s hopes of usurping Marquez were quickly whatever bubble of negativity comes from that experience and move forwards and try to grow from it. It’s very unusual of me but just shows that we’re all human and things happen.
“I will try to have as much fun as possible tomorrow,” added Hamilton. “Years ago I came from quite far behind and had a great race.”
Australian Daniel Ricciardo qualified fifth fastest for Red Bull but has a 10 place grid penalty as a result of power unit changes.
That will lift Mexican Sergio Perez, for Force India, to fifth with McLaren’s double world champion Fernando Alonso set to start sixth.
Brazilian Felipe Massa, preparing for a home farewell in the penultimate race of his last season in Formula One, will start ninth. undone as Jorge Lorenzo and then Dovizioso both crashed out as they paid the price for pushing at the limit for the whole race.
Up front Pedrosa and Zarco were left to battle it out for the race win in a pulsating final few laps. Ultimately, though, the Spaniard came out on top on home soil to deny Zarco his first MotoGP win and round off a perfect day for the Honda pair. VALENCIA MOTOGP RESULTS 1. Dani Pedrosa (ESP/Honda) 46min 08.125sec, 2. Johann Zarco (FRA/Yamaha Tech3) at 0.337, 3. Marc Marquez (ESP/ Honda) 10.861, 4. Alex Rins (ESP/Suzuki) 13.567, 5. Valentino Rossi (ITA/Yamaha) 13.817, 6. Andrea Iannone (ITA/Suzuki) 14.516, 7. Jack Miller (AUS/Honda) 17.087, 8. Cal Crutchlow (GBR/Honda) 17.230, 9. Michele Pirro (ITA/Ducati) 25.942, 10. Tito Rabat (ESP/Honda) 27.020 Overall standings 1. Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda) 298 points, 2. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA/Ducati) 261, 3. Maverick Vinales (ESP/Yamaha) 230, 4. Dani Pedrosa (ESP/Honda) 210, 5. Valentino Rossi (ITA/Yamaha) 208, 6. Johann Zarco (FRA/ Yamaha Tech3) 174, 7. Jorge Lorenzo (ESP/ Ducati) 137, 8. Danilo Petrucci (ITA/Ducati) 124, 9. Cal Crutchlow (GBR/Honda) 112, 10. Jonas Folger (GER/Yamaha Tech3) 84 MOTO2: 1. Miguel Oliveira (POR/KTM) 43min 15.843sec, 2. Franco Morbidelli (ITA/ Kalex) at 2.154, 3. Brad Binder (RSA/KTM) 4.181, 4. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA/Kalex) 11.181, 5. Alex Marquez (ESP/Kalex) 12.146, 6. Hafizh Syahrin (MAL/Kalex) 14.595, 7. Takaaki Nakagami (JPN/Kalex) 18.446, 8. Fabio Quartararo (ITA/Kalex) 22.188, 9. Simone Corsi (ITA/Speed Up) 23.592, 10. Dominique Aegerter (SWI/Suter) 23.751 Overall standings: 1. Franco Morbidelli (ITA/Kalex) 308 points, 2. Thomas Luthi (SUI/ Kalex) 243, 3. Miguel Oliveira (POR/KTM) 241, 4. Alex Marquez (ESP/Kalex) 201, 5. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA/Kalex) 174, 6. Mattia Pasini (ITA/Kalex) 148, 7. Takaaki Nakagami (JPN/Kalex) 137, 8. Brad Binder (RSA/KTM) 125, 9. Simone Corsi (ITA/Speed Up) 117, 10. Hafizh Syahrin (MAL/Kalex) 106