Brazilian Grand Prix: Qualifying Recap
November 16, 2019
Event: Qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix (Round 20 of 21)
Date: Saturday, Nov. 16
Location: Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo
Layout: 4.309-kilometer (2.677-mile), 15-turn circuit
Weather: Mostly Cloudy
Air Temps: 21.3 degrees Celsius (70.34 degrees Fahrenheit)
Track Temps: 38.5 degrees Celsius (101.3 degrees Fahrenheit)
Pole Winner: Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing (1:07.508)
Result: Roman Grosjean qualified 8th / Kevin Magnussen qualified 10th
Note: Grosjean and Magnussen will start 7th and 9th, respectively, as Charles Leclerc (Scuderi Ferrari), who qualified 4th, will take a 10-place grid penalty for an engine change.
Free Practice No. 3 Rundown
Magnussen: 14th overall (1:09.713), 18 laps completed
Grosjean: 16th overall (1:09.798) 20 laps completed
Fastest Driver: Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes (1:08.320)
Most Laps: Robert Kubica of Williams (23 laps)
Q1 Rundown:
- Lasts 18 minutes, with all 20 drivers participating
- Fastest 15 drivers advance to Q2
Magnussen: 7th overall (1:08.875), Advances to Q2
Grosjean: 13th overall (1:09.197), Advances to Q2
Fastest Driver: Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing (1:08.242)
Cutoff: 15th overall Sergio Perez of Racing Point (1:09.288)
Q2 Rundown:
- Lasts 15 minutes, featuring the 15 fastest drivers from Q1
- Fastest 10 drivers advance to Q3
Grosjean: 7th overall (1:08.705), Advances to Q3
Magnussen: 9th overall (1:08.803), Advances to Q3
Fastest Driver: Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing (1:07.503)
Cutoff: 10th overall Kimi Raikkonen of Alfa Romeo (1:08.858)
Q3 Rundown:
- Lasts 12 minutes, featuring the 10 fastest drivers from Q2, all battling for the pole
Grosjean: 8th overall (1:08.854)
Magnussen: 10th overall (1:09.037)
Pole Winner: Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing (1:07.508)
Second: Sebastian Vettel of Scuderia Ferrari (1:07.631)
Recap
Haas F1 Team drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen qualified eighth and 10th, respectively, for Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix, the 20th round of the FIA Formula One World Championship at Autódromo José Carlos Pace in São Paulo. Grosjean and Magnussen will however start from seventh and ninth on the grid, respectively, as Charles Leclerc (Scuderi Ferrari), who qualified fourth, will take a 10-place grid penalty for an engine change.
Magnussen set the seventh-fastest time in Q1 with a lap of 1:08.875 around the 4.309-kilometer (2.677-mile), 15-turn circuit while Grosjean was 13th-quickest with a lap of 1:09.197. Only the top-15 drivers move on to Q2.
In Q2, Grosjean set the seventh-fastest time with a lap of 1:08.705 and Magnussen was ninth with a lap of 1:08.803 to return both cars to the top-10 of qualifying and Q3 for the first time since May’s Spanish Grand Prix.
Grosjean qualified eighth in Q3, posting a lap time of 1:08.854 following an earlier lap on a set of scrubbed softs. Magnussen claimed tenth with a lap of 1:09.037.
Both Grosjean and Magnussen ran exclusively on the Pirelli P Zero Red soft tire throughout qualifying.
Taking the pole for the Brazilian Grand Prix was Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen. His fast lap of 1:07.503 was good for his second career pole and his second of the season. It was .123 of a second better than Sebastian Vettel’s Q3 lap today that earned the second starting position.
Romain Grosjean, Driver No. 8, Haas F1 Team
“It was a brilliant job by the team. Having both cars in Q3 is unbelievable. Tomorrow might be a different day, but that doesn’t matter, we’ll take the pleasure from today. We didn’t really get to show the speed we had in final practice. I had confidence that we might be around P11. Then obviously Q2 went really well, and Q3 wasn’t too bad. We were only two-hundredths of a second off being best-of-the-rest. I’m happy for the team, it’s a brilliant job from everyone.”
Kevin Magnussen, Driver No. 20, Haas F1 Team
“It’s good to have both cars in Q3 again. It looks like we might have something to fight with this weekend, which is really good. There’s nothing to be disappointed about from today. The circuit and conditions were right for our car. It’s been very up-and-down all the way through the year, so it’s not a surprise that we can do this. I’ll be more surprised if we can finish it off tomorrow, we know we struggle a little bit with tire management in the race. We’ll certainly be giving it our all though.”
Guenther Steiner, Team Principal, Haas F1 Team
“FP3 didn’t look good on the timesheets but we knew what was possible today. I think in qualifying the whole team and the drivers did a great job to get everything out of the car. It was a fantastic execution of a qualifying session with some fantastic drives. It’s good for the team, everyone’s worked hard for this, and we never give up. We keep on fighting and today we’ve had a good result. Hopefully, tomorrow we can do something, for sure we’ll be trying.”