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Valtteri Bottas made it back-to-back pole positions by beating Max Verstappen to finish first in Sprint Qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Championship leader Verstappen will be hoping to take the lead at Turn 1, just as he did last week in Mexico City.

Carlos Sainz held off Sergio Perez on Saturday to line up in third place, with Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc on row three.

It's an all-French fourth row as AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly and Alpine's Esteban Ocon start next to each other, just in front of Sebastian Vettel in the Aston Martin.

Lewis Hamilton, who trails Verstappen by 21 points in the Drivers' Championship, will start from 10th place having made his way up to fifth in Sprint Qualifying with a stunning drive through the field.

The seven-time World Champion took on a fifth Internal Combustion Engine prior to the weekend, which has triggered a five-grid place penalty. He will be looking to replicate his impressive form in Sunday's 71-lap race around Interlagos.

Further behind, Daniel Ricciardo and Fernando Alonso both had poor starts on Saturday so will be looking to turn things around by getting it right when the lights go out at 14:00 local time (17:00 UK time).

Nicholas Latifi managed to stay ahead of Williams teammate George Russell to officially outqualify him for the second time this season.

The Haas pair of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin will make up the last places on the grid, while Alfa Romeo's Kimi Raikkonen will start from the pit lane after his team elected to fit him with a new specification rear wing for the Grand Prix.

Starting Grid: F1 2021 Brazilian Grand Prix
Position	Driver	Team
1	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull
3	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari
4	Sergio Perez	Red Bull
5	Lando Norris	McLaren
6	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari
7	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri
8	Esteban Ocon	Alpine
9	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin
10	Lewis Hamilton*	Mercedes
11	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren
12	Fernando Alonso	Alpine
13	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo
14	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin
15	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri
16	Nicholas Latifi	Williams
17	George Russell	Williams
18	Mick Schumacher	Haas
19	Nikita Mazepin	Haas
PL	Kimi Raikkonen*	Alfa Romeo

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