At this point, anyone following F1 knows the plight of Valtteri Bottas. The former Williams driver has been great at Mercedes, but he has long been a step behind championship-winning teammate Lewis Hamilton and he has been earmarked to lose that seat in 2022 since celebrated prospect George Russell joined Williams himself. At the Italian Grand Prix, that move was finally made official, and Bottas announced that he would himself be moving to Alfa Romeo in a corresponding move. Since that announcement, he seems to have found a form he has been missing for the past year.
Bottas won pole for tomorrow's grand prix in Brazil by winning the third and final sprint qualifying race of the season. He effectively did so on the opening lap, darting past Max Verstappen to claim the lead into turn 1 and pulling away from second-placed Carlos Sainz Jr. as Verstappen worked back past him in a battle for second. The Red Bull driver never caught Bottas, giving he and Mercedes pole for tomorrow's race.
Lewis Hamilton, starting last after a penalty for a DRS violation in qualifying eliminated his pole-winning lap yesterday, had a similarly eventful day. Hamilton spent the entire race moving through the field at every opportunity, climbing all the way up to fifth in an aggressive charge that at one point saw him pass all of Sebastian Vettel, Esteban Ocon, and Pierre Gasly for top ten spots in consecutive laps. A separate engine penalty will cost him five grid places tomorrow, so he will start tenth with a much longer race ahead of him. With the pace he showed today, a win is still possible.
Bottas, Verstappen, Sainz, and Sergio Perez will make up the front two rows for the grand prix itself. After Hamilton's penalty, Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc will be promoted to fifth and sixth, respectively. The race airs at 12 p.m. ET and can be found on ESPN2 in the U.S.
