Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas beat Ferarri’s Sebastian Vettel to the pole position for the Brazilian Grand Prix after 2017 world champion Lewis Hamilton crashed into the barriers during Q1 of the session.

Bottas drove his heart out and cashed in on Lewis’ bad luck to clock in the fastest time around the Interlagos circuit with a 1:08.322 – just 0.038s ahead of Vettel.

Hamilton’s crash, without setting a time, meant that he had to appeal to the stewards to allow him to participate in the race. The stewards have allowed him to start the race from the pit lane.

The battle for second place in the championship is still in full swing and with a 15 point gap between Bottas and Vettel, the Finn will be in the best position to storm to the chequered flag and hone in on the German.

Hamilton’s crash brought out the red flags only 5 minutes into Q1 after losing the rear end of his car going through Ferradura, causing extensive damage to his suspension, and possibly his gearbox.

Kimi Raikkonen finished the Brazilian GP qualifying session in 3rd place, 0.2s behind Vettel and ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who came in 0.5s off pole. Daniel Ricciardo set the fifth fastest time but he will grid spots for having to change his MGU-H following his failure in Mexico. Sergio Perez, who qualified in 6th place, will move up to 5th as a result.

Fernando Alonso enjoyed a very impressive qualifying and will start from the 6th spot on the grid. Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz will line up behind the Spaniard, a really good result for the team. With a mere 6 points behind the Toro Rosso team for 6th place in the championship, they’ll most certainly be going all out for the race.

Brazilian home favourite, Felipe Massa, rounded in the top ten. Massa has again announced his retirement from F1, which will certainly have his home crowd hoping he can climb up through the ranks during the race to end his F1 career in spectacular fashion.

Esteban Ocon will line up behind Massa with Romain Grosjean behind him, ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne and Haas teammate Kevin Magnussen. Pascal Wehrlein, Daniel Ricciardo, and Ericsson will start behind them with Lance Stroll, Brendon Hartleyand Pierre Gasly completing the grid.

We’re all set for a spectacular Brazilian GP! Join us on Twitter @F1_Madness for live commentary and chat during the race.