Brazilian F1 Grand Prix 2017 Qualifying: Saturday's Results, Times, Final Grid

Valtteri Bottas will start the 2017 Brazilian F1 Grand Prix from pole position, while Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton will take off from last place following a crash in the first qualifying session.

The world champion failed to set a time before steering his car into the wall and will have to petition the organisers to even start the race.

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen finished the qualifying session in second and third place, respectively, while Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo took fourth and fifth. The latter will move back due to a 10-place grid penalty.

Qualifying Recap

Here's a look at the full timesheet:

Fans who thought the first session would play out without any major drama were sorely mistaken, as the red flags came out after just two minutes. Mercedes went out on slicks to try to beat the rain, and Hamilton took too many risks, sending his car into the barrier.

F1's official Twitter account shared this photo of the carnage:

The crash sent the world champion to last place on the grid and opened up a huge battle for pole position. The Silver Arrows had dominated the weekend until that point, but Raikkonen took the top spot in the first session, despite being on the slower compound. Felipe Massa was in danger of dropping out late, but he clocked the fourth-best time to move into Q2.

The rain returned as the second session got under way, complicating the tactical battle. Bottas laid down a huge marker, dipping below 1:09 with his first hot lap, and the Ferraris couldn't match. Red Bull were almost half a second down, and Ricciardo had his grid penalty to worry about as well.

Things got even worse for Red Bull, via Autosport Live:

Vettel beat Bottas late in the session, taking the top spot even though the Finn improved his own time.

Bottas set the first hot lap of the shootout, but Vettel immediately responded, clocking a 1:08.360 lap. Raikkonen sat well behind those two, and with the rain returning, the field appeared set.

Bottas found some extra pace in the first sector on his final run, however, handing Mercedes pole position ahead of the Ferrari duo. Red Bull had the fourth and fifth fastest times, but Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso will be the main beficiaries of Ricciardo's penalty.

FP3 Recap

Formula One's official Twitter account shared the classification for the third and final practice session:

The drivers had wet conditions to deal with on the track:

Lance Stroll's session lasted just 15 minutes after he came to a stop approaching Turn 6 after losing power.

It was Ferrari duo Raikkonen and Vettel who showed the early pace as they raced to the top of the timesheets ahead of Hamilton and Bottas.

Further back, strong runs from Alonso and Max Verstappen saw them claim P5 and P6, respectively, albeit they would not remain there thanks to late flourishes from Ricciardo, Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon. 

A switch to supersoft tyres led to a flurry of activity at the top of the standings as both Ferrari's improved, with Vettel stealing a march on his rivals in P1, but he was quickly surpassed by the two Mercedes.

All four drivers were exceedingly close:

It was the Mercedes pair who came out on top once again, having done so in both of Friday's sessions.

This was Ferrari's most competitive showing at Brazil thus far, though, so qualifying could be much closer-run than it previously appeared.