"It's been so long since it's like the first time," exclaimed the seven-time 36-year-old world champion, who hadn't been the fastest on a lap since the Hungarian GP started. August, before the summer break.

An eternity for an exercise specialist!

The Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull), his rival in the World Championship with 19 points ahead of four races to go, will accompany him on the front row on Saturday at 4.30 p.m. (8.30 p.m. French).

But nothing is decided for the starting grid of the Grand Prix on Sunday, which will be determined by the results of this sprint race of 24 laps of 4.309 km (i.e. a little more than 100 km swallowed in about thirty minutes) but also by the five-place penalty imposed on Hamilton for an engine change in excess of the authorized quota per season.

Already looking towards Sunday, when it really counts, the Briton promises to "give everything", penalty or not.

He has no choice: he must absolutely prevent Verstappen from widening the gap in the drivers' standings beyond the 25 points mark, which would protect him from retirement.

While his Red Bull was supposed to outperform the Mercedes on paper on the Brazilian circuit, the Dutchman is "just happy to be second", even if his face expresses the opposite.

"Sometimes you have to be realistic, we didn't have much more under our feet," he admits.

"The most important is Sunday"

"But the most important thing is Sunday," recalls the Red Bull driver, who is chasing his first world title at the age of 24.

"The weather will be completely different, it will be much hotter, and that will change the behavior of the cars," a priori to the disadvantage of the Silver Arrows.

Mercedes and Red Bull lieutenants, Finland's Valtteri Bottas and Mexican Sergio Pérez, inherited the second row at the start of the sprint.

Max Verstappen driving his Red Bul on the Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo, November 12, 2021 Carl DE SOUZA AFP

The French Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri), who won his first podium (2nd) at Interlagos in 2019, and the Spaniard Carlos Sainz Jr (Ferrari) are placed on the third.

Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), Briton Lando Norris (McLaren), Australian Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) and Spaniard Fernando Alonso (Alpine) complete the Top 10, ahead of second Frenchman Esteban Ocon (Alpine), 11th.

The Brazilian GP, ​​absent from the 2020 calendar because of the Covid-19 pandemic, is the third and last in 2021 (after Great Britain in July and Italy in September) to propose a new format, with Saturday a qualifying sprint race whose results determine the starting grid for Sunday.

The classic qualifications, they fix the starting positions of this sprint race, of which the first three will also score points in the championship (from 3 for the first to 1 for the third).

© 2021 AFP