Valtteri Bottas will only start Sunday’s Brazilian GP from the 18th grid.
Brazilian GP starting order
1. Max Verstappen, 2. Charles Leclerc, 3. Lance Stroll, 4. Fernando Alonso, 5. Lewis Hamilton, 6. George Russell, 7. Lando Norris, 8. Carlos Sainz, 9. Sergio Pérez, 10. Oscar Piastri, 11. Nico Hülkenberg, 12. Esteban Ocon, 13. Pierre Gasly, 14. Kevin Magnussen, 15. Alex Albon, 16. Yuki Tsunoda, 17. Daniel Ricciardo, 18. Valtteri Bottas, 19. Logan Sargeant, 20. Zhou Guanyu
The time trial of the Brazilian GP came to a dramatic end.
The rain clouds that had threatened all afternoon finally covered the entire São Paulo sky, and the track temperature plummeted. At the same time, the grip completely disappeared from the tires.
– I have never experienced anything like this in my entire career. It didn’t rain after the quad bend, but the car was extremely difficult to drive. No grip, said Charles Leclerc, who grabbed the second frame.
– This is, of course, the organization’s weather condition. The wind changed and grew really strong. That’s why we lost time on the track, Max Verstappen, who secured the pole position, crashed.
– It was about the hectic last round.
The story continues after the social media update
The jury finally stopped the time trial when it was clear that the lap times could no longer be improved.
Bottas disappointed
Alfa Romeo was already packing things at the same time, because both drivers of the team, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyualready qualified after the first part.
– We went too early for the second bet. The plan was to go at the end of the session, but for some reason we left earlier, Bottas explained to Viaplay.
– We thought it would rain, but it didn’t.
The team also did not give Bottas a third set of new tires.
– We didn’t have enough time.
The story continues after the picture
Valtteri Bottas was disappointed in the 18th grid. PDO
Bottas ended up on the 18th starting grid. It’s a really long way from there to the World Cup points. However, there is another chance on Saturday, when the last sprint points of the season are awarded in São Paulo.
– We changed the car quite a lot for qualifying. That ranking does not indicate the level we should have in terms of speed. Hopefully we can get a little better times in the sprint.
The conditions will change a lot during the weekend. For example, much cooler weather has been promised for Sunday’s GP.
– The direction of the wind changes and that has an effect as well. We have tried to do everything that can be predicted. Some things just cannot be perfectly predicted.
– If it’s a bit cooler, because we have plenty of soft tires left.